Run For the Hills (book)
| Author | Kevin Wilson |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Publisher | Ecco |
Publication date | May 13, 2025 |
| Media type | Print, e-book, audiobook |
| Pages | 256 |
| ISBN | 978-0-06-331751-2 Search this book on  . |
Run for the Hills is a 2025 novel by American author Kevin Wilson, published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins. The novel follows a group of previously unacquainted half-siblings who travel across the United States in search of their estranged father. A road novel and family drama, it explores themes of abandonment, sibling relationships, identity, and the distinction between biological and chosen family.[1]
The novel is Wilson's fifth, following Now Is Not the Time to Panic (2022).
Plot
Madeline "Mad" Hill is a 32-year-old woman who lives with her mother on an organic farm in Coalfield, Tennessee. Mad's father abandoned the family approximately twenty years earlier, leaving Mad and her mother to operate the farm together. Although Mad has constructed a stable life for herself, her relatively isolated existence is disrupted by the arrival of a stranger named Reuben Hill.
Reuben persuades Mad to accompany him on a cross-country trip to locate their other half-siblings and, eventually, their father. As they travel, the pair discover that their father assumed different roles and identities within each of the families he created.
By the conclusion of the journey, the siblings recognize that discovering one another has become more consequential than finding their father. Their improvised family allows them to establish relationships independent of the parent whose abandonment originally connected them.
Background and development
Wilson has frequently written about unconventional families and relationships. His earlier novels include The Family Fang (2011), Perfect Little World (2017), Nothing to See Here (2019), and Now Is Not the Time to Panic (2022).
Wilson described Run for the Hills as another exploration of family, particularly the process by which people accept new individuals into their lives while coming to terms with those who have left them. He also identified several personal interests incorporated into the novel, including organic chicken farming, college basketball, independent filmmaking, and California art communes.[2]
The road-trip structure allows the novel to introduce each sibling sequentially while expanding the geographic and emotional scope of the story. Critics noted that the resulting journey functions as both a search for the siblings' father and a means by which the siblings create a family of their own.[3]
Themes
Family and abandonment
The central theme of Run for the Hills is the effect of parental abandonment. Each of the Hill siblings has been shaped by the absence of the same father, but their individual experiences differ because he behaved differently in each household.
Rather than focusing solely on the reasons for the father's actions, the novel examines how the children he abandoned understand themselves in relation to one another. Their shared biological connection initially brings them together, but the relationships they form during the journey become voluntary rather than merely genetic.
Chosen family
The novel also explores the concept of chosen family. Although the children are biologically related, they begin the story as strangers. Their development as a family therefore depends on their decisions to remain connected to one another rather than on a shared upbringing.
This theme reverses the purpose of their journey: while the siblings initially travel together to locate the parent who left them, their discovery of one another becomes more significant than their eventual reunion with him.
Identity
The siblings' investigation reveals that their father presented different versions of himself to each family. This prevents them from developing a single, uncomplicated understanding of him and raises questions about whether a person's identity can be reconstructed through the memories of others.
The siblings likewise reconsider their own identities after learning that their childhood experiences were part of a larger pattern rather than isolated events.
Publication
Run for the Hills was published in the United States by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, on May 13, 2025.[1] The first edition was 256 pages long and was released in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
An Australian edition was published by Text Publishing on May 13, 2025.[4]
Reception
Run for the Hills received generally positive reviews, with critics frequently discussing Wilson's treatment of unconventional family relationships and the novel's combination of humor and sentiment.
The Washington Post described the novel as a tender and humorous examination of family dynamics and noted similarities between the structure of the siblings' journey and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with additional characters joining the group as it travels westward.[3]
Kirkus Reviews praised elements characteristic of Wilson's fiction, including its unusual characters and complicated family relationships, while offering a more mixed assessment of the novel as a whole. The review characterized the story as both a family reunion and a figurative ghost story and argued that some of its dramatic potential remained underdeveloped.[1]
The New York Times Book Review characterized the novel as a "touching and generous romp" and highlighted its treatment of family as something that must ultimately be chosen, including relationships between biological relatives.[4]
People included Run for the Hills among its best books of May 2025.[5]
See also
- Road novel
- Chosen family
- Sibling relationship
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Run for the Hills". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved August 7, 2026.
- ↑ Couch, LeighAnne (October 3, 2024). "What Do College Basketball, Chicken Farming and Indie Films Have in Common? In 'Run for the Hills', We'll Find Out". People. Retrieved August 7, 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedWP - ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Run for the Hills". Text Publishing. Retrieved August 7, 2026.
- ↑ "PEOPLE's Best Books of May 2025: New Kevin Wilson, Sizzling Summer Romance and More". People. May 2025. Retrieved August 7, 2026.
External links
Category:2025 American novels
Category:American family saga novels
Category:American road novels
Category:Ecco Press books
Category:Novels about families
Category:Novels set in Tennessee
Category:Novels set in Oklahoma
Category:Novels set in Utah
References
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