Go get lost somewhere, it always does you good." For Arthur Less, life is going surprisingly well: he is a moderately accomplished novelist in a steady relationship with his partner, Freddy Pelu. But nothing lasts: the death of an old lover and a sudden financial crisis has Less running away from his problems yet again as he accepts a series of literary gigs that send him on a zigzagging adventure across the US. Less roves across the "Mild Mild West,"...

Calvin Bledsoe's journey begins with the death of his mother. An internationally known theologian and an expert on all things John Calvin, she had been the dominant force in her son's existence, so much so that he never left home--even when he married--and, as a result, never grew up. At his mother's funeral, Calvin is introduced to his aunt Beatrice, a woman he had not even known existed. Beatrice immediately makes it clear to Calvin that she is...