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“The Long Ride Home”
by
Catalina McIsaac
Set in the present, on the plains of the California Central Coast and Southern California’s Topanga Canyon, this is a story about a fitness trainer, in her mid-fifties, who returns to her abandoned family ranch and ricochets through a transformative year with the reappearance of a long estranged sister.
Living alone, in Topanga Canyon, the fitness trainer rides her horse from a ranger station located in the isolated foothills to confront a tragic family history. Her estranged sister arrives simultaneously at the ranch from New York City after escaping years of sex slavery.
Being shot point blank in the head by the sister’s pursuing pimp, a ranger heroically fights for his complete rehabilitation. The same sister ultimately finds restoration and redemption in caring for this disabled young man.
The fitness trainer’s Topanga Canyon home, a neighbor’s patient horse and a swimming pool provide sanctuary and healing for the trio. At the same time, the fitness trainer discovers love with a kind but controlling Mexican aristocrat and discovers that love and independence are not always reconcilable.
The Long Ride Home began as a short story, but the characters had more to say and the early audience wanted to hear more. I would wake up in the middle of the night and answer the call to write about the personal experiences each character wanted to share. Word upon word built a pure fiction that grew into a true to life story of an unlikely family cobbled to together by synchronistic events that transformed each individual member. A dramatic roller coaster of emotion, action and suspense these unique characters rode the long ride home and brought me along for the ride.
~ Catalina