''Walk the Wild Road'', earlier titled ''The Road from Home'', is a novel by

Nigel Hinton Nigel Hinton (born 1941 in London) is an English novelist, primarily of fiction for teenagers. Career Hinton worked in advertising for two years, then taught English for nine years at the Hugh Christie School in Tonbridge, Kent. He then wor ...

. It is set in 1870 and tells the story of a boy forced to leave his home in

Prussian Poland The Province of Posen (german: Provinz Posen, pl, Prowincja Poznańska) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920. Posen was established in 1848 following the Greater Poland Uprising as a successor to the Grand Duchy of Posen, w ...

for a new life in America. It was first published in October 2009 as ''the Road from Home''. The current title was used from February 2011 to avoid confusion with a similarly titled novel.

Concept

The novel is based on a legend in the author's family that in 1870 his grandfather left his home in Poland at the age of eleven. Hinton visited Poland in 2005 shortly after the death of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in which he found his ancestral home in Polichno then followed the river

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

to the sea from Bydgoszcz and

Toruń )'' , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_flag = POL Toruń flag.svg , image_shield = POL Toruń COA.svg , nickname = City of Angels, Gingerbread city, Copernicus Town , pushpin_map = Kuyavian-Pom ...

collecting inspirations along the way.

Reception

'' Kirkus Reviews'' wrote, "The two main characters are reasonably well-developed, and the obstacles they face are never minimized in this coming-of-age tale. But sentence structure rarely varies, colorful imagery ..is lacking, and the plot-driven narrative moves forward at a measured, too-predictable pace. These factors all conspire to keep this from rising above a crowded field." ''Historical Novel Society'' called the novel "a classic hero’s tale—a linear, solid, and yet compelling story told completely from he main protagonist's Leo's, point of view."

References

{{Nigel Hinton 2009 British novels Fiction set in 1870 Novels by Nigel Hinton Sourcebooks books