Some roads take you away. Some roads bring you home.
It’s 1988, and Ethan Brooks believes he has his future figured out. He’s eighteen, confident, ambitious, and ready to leave suburban Chicago behind for college and everything that comes with it.
Then one life-changing mistake changes everything.
Ethan arrives at Southern Illinois University carrying the consequences of a summer he would rather forget. What he finds instead is a new group of friends, unforgettable experiences, and Jessica McCormick—a young woman whose warmth, strength, and belief in him begin to change the direction of his life.
But growing up rarely follows the road we expect.
From the residence halls and college bars of Carbondale to family celebrations, unexpected tragedy, second chances, and ultimately the brick-lined streets of Athens, Ohio, Ethan and Jessica discover that falling in love may be the easy part. Holding on to each other while life changes around them is something else entirely.
Set against the music, culture, cars, and college life of the late 1980s, The Road to Athens is a nostalgic coming-of-age love story about friendship, family, mistakes, redemption, and those rare people who enter our lives and forever change where the road leads.
For anyone who remembers their first great love, the friendships they thought would last forever, or the moment they realized they were no longer a kid.
Sometimes finding your future means taking the long road home.
