Recalculating
Summary of Recalculating
Recalculating is a heart-warming story of a slightly dysfunctional middle-American family easing into the 21st century. Cassie Price, a devoted mom and real estate agent, finds herself making a series of U-turns and recalculating life’s routes. Much like her Garmin and its directives while driving, her inner voice sometimes steers her to the wrong destination, as her life’s trajectory is upended, all due to a chance encounter with a stranger in the dark. Or, perhaps it was really George Clooney that she met in the woods that fateful morning!
It’s 2009, and Cassie seems to have it all together, but beneath the surface, her marriage to the town’s golden boy is slipping. Her kids keep life funny, yet chaotic, while her clients vie for top priority. An unexpected house guest brings gloomy clouds and intermittent sunshine, and a voice in the dark seizes her wildest longings.
Follow Cassie as she hikes the metro park trails of the idyllic suburban Ohio town, Mt. Bray, with her loyal companion, Sharpie, and watch, as her carefully charted course takes a detour.
The story unfolds in the midst of the Great Recession, and is told through breadcrumbs of a recent pre-Covid past—emails, answering machine messages, and Blackberry texts—in the dawn of today’s fast-paced digital world. Not only must Cassie negotiate change, but Mt. Bray itself must adapt to a new age, as nearby manufacturing plants are shuttered, and family-owned businesses fade in the shadow of looming big box stores and global marketplaces. Her friends, family, and neighbors face their own challenges in a rapidly changing world.
Readers are invited to take a seat at the Price’s dining room table and join in while the characters break bread without the tug and pull of today’s political dissonance. It is a calmer time, just before society’s complete surrender to smartphones, social media, and sound bites. Recalculating touches all readers to some extent today, as they recall melancholic memories of their own families and communities, and the detours they’ve taken.
The Author
Kim Klee