Hidden Highways

What if the road less traveled wasn't far away-but just off the nearest exit?

Hidden Highways: A Journey Through the Soul of New Jersey is not your typical road trip book. It's a lyrical, deeply human exploration of one of America's most misunderstood states, seen through the eyes of three travelers who aren't just searching for places-they're rediscovering wonder, memory, and meaning.

Naomi Brooks is a thoughtful historian chasing the overlooked. Ethan Caldwell is a burned-out photographer learning to see again. And eight-year-old Leo is a whirlwind of questions, wonder, and unexpected wisdom. Together, they set off on a ten-day road trip through the backroads and forgotten towns of New Jersey, guided only by curiosity, nostalgia, and a refusal to take the highway.

From the rust-red silence of Paterson's mills to the hushed wonder of Liberty State Park, from dinosaur trails and art collectives to pie museums and observatories, this journey moves through places most people pass by-illuminating them with compassion, humor, and reverence. Each chapter is a destination, each destination a reflection, and each moment a reminder that sometimes, the most powerful discoveries are waiting in your own backyard.

Hidden Highways is part memoir, part travelogue, part ode to the overlooked. It blends storytelling, historical insight, and a photographer's eye for the quietly extraordinary. But most of all, it's a celebration of slowing down-of seeing not just with your eyes, but with your heart.

Perfect for fans of meaningful travel narratives, soul-searching road trips, and quiet books that leave a lasting echo, Viktoryia Konan's moving debut reminds us that every place-no matter how small, how unassuming, or how forgotten-has a soul.

Come ride the hidden highways-and find what you've been missing all along.