Michael Lund

Route 66 Dreamer Michael Lund

Route 66 Dreamer is Michael Lund's tenth novel set in the historical background of Route 66, the Nation's "Mother Road." Earlier novels depicted life as it was in the Midwest during the early golden ages of interstate highways and experiences of related characters in "Growing Up on Route 66". The current 5-volume series, headlined At Home and Away, chronicles an American family during times of peace and war from 1915 to 2015. The first book, Route 66 Sweetheart (2011), is set mostly in and around Rutherford, New Jersey, during the 1930s. Route 66 Dreamer (2012) features the son of a Swedish immigrant who pursues his dreams of American success in Kansas and Missouri in the early 1940s. However, in both books some family members move away to distant countries and unexpected challenges. The third volume, Route 66 Looking-glass (2013), will take place primarily in Missouri in 1965, but characters also travel far from home and familiar experiences. Book Four (2014) follows another generation of family members, this time from Missouri to Southeast Asia where many learn, sadly, "how to not tell a war story." In the final volume of the series (2015), the next generation travels to Europe and the Middle East to understand their identity in a multi-national community.