1954년 6월 12일, 과실치사로 소년원에 수감 중이던 에밋 왓슨은 아버지의 죽음으로 조기 퇴소하여 중부 네브래스카의 고향 집으로 막 돌아왔다. 어머니는 벌써 8년 전에 집을 나갔고 아버지의 농장은 압류당한 데다, 과실치사 피해자 가족의 분노가 언제 그에게로 쏟아질지 알 수 없는 상황. 에밋은 열여덟 살이었고, 남은 가족은 여덟 살의 조숙한 동생 빌리뿐. 이제 재산이라곤 연푸른색 스튜드베이커 랜드크루저 한 대가 유일했지만, 그는 빌리를 데리고 그곳을 떠나 남부 텍사스에서 새로운 삶을 시작하려 마음먹고 있었다.

THE INSTANT NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
FROM THE AUTHOR OF RULES OF CIVILITY AND A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW

'Deserves a place alongside Kerouac, Steinbeck and Wolfe as the very best of the genre' OBSERVER

'An absolute beauty of a book. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to read it again' TANA FRENCH

'Welcome to the enormous pleasure that is The Lincoln Highway . . . in which the miles fly by and the pages turn fast' ANN PATCHETT

In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett returns home to his younger brother Billy after serving fifteen months in a juvenile facility for involuntary manslaughter. They are getting ready to leave their old life behind and head out to sunny California.

But they're not alone. Two runaways from the youth work farm, Duchess and Wolly, have followed Emmett all the way to Nebraska with a plan of their own, one that will take the four of them on an unexpected and fateful journey in the opposite direction - to New York City.

'Already feels like an American coming of age classic' RED

'The best novel I've read in years' CHRIS CLEAVE

'Wise and wildly entertaining . . . permeated with light, wit, youth' THE NEW YORK TIMES