Anywhere But Here is a moving, often comic portrait of wise child Ann August and her mother, Adele, a larger-than-life American dreamer. As they travel through the landscape of their often conflicting ambitions, Ann and Adele bring to life a novel that is a brilliant exploration of the perennial urge to keep moving, even at the risk of profound disorientation.

The story begins when eleven-year-old Ann August and her mother Adele abandon their home in Wisconsin, leaving behind the two people Ann loves most: her grandmother Lillian and her cousin Benny. Mother and daughter are on the road to California, where Adele hopes to launch a star career for Ann in Hollywood.

Their relationship has always been close, but volatile, and frivolous Adele is the cause of all Ann's worries: whether she's hoping to get rich, trying to attract a new husband, or spending too much money on clothes. As they drive across the parched American landscape in search of a better life, theirs is a journey of discovery—of new possibilities and of their respective dreams of each other.