Off the Leash: Subversive Journeys Around Vermont

A collection of travel essays, written with an irresistible sense of humor, keen insight, and a taste for the off-beat. Off the Leash is an exuberant grand tour of some of Vermont's most interesting and undervalued places--from the Domestic Resurrection Circus performed by giant puppets in Glover, to the Dowser's Labyrinth in Danville, to the birthplace of Joseph Smith, one of the founders of the Mormon Church, in Sharon. Vermont is full of quirky places and colorful history, and Helen Husher's collection of stories about her favorite haunts is some of the most captivating travel writing we've seen in years. At turns irreverent and witty, philosophical and wise--and always surprising--Off the Leash has elements in common with Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America and Ian Frazier's Great Plains. This book goes beyond Vermont and well beyond the world of tourism to explore "the richness of life and the treasures in it, and how we lose these things in a world that seems to be mostly about speed and cash." It's a book sure to interest anyone with a taste for eccentric stories, for small-town dramas, for the way our places make us who we are. This collection is a finalist for the Heekin Group Foundation Writing Award.