{"id":427,"date":"2026-08-27T15:26:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T19:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/?p=427"},"modified":"2026-08-27T15:26:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T19:26:30","slug":"westward-by-rick-ridgway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/?p=427","title":{"rendered":"Westward by Rick Ridgway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In <em>Westward<\/em>, Rick Ridgway tells the story of Joe, a boy growing up amid poverty, family turmoil, loneliness, and the unforgiving industrial landscape of postwar Cleveland. Caught between a troubled grandmother, an elusive mother, and a father drifting from one failed scheme to another, Joe struggles to understand love, anger, faith, and his own place in a world that often feels hostile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Raw, darkly funny, and intensely observant, <em>Westward<\/em> is a coming-of-age novel about abandonment and resilience\u2014and about a restless boy searching for a way beyond the boundaries of the life he has been given. As the people he loves move farther away, Joe begins to look westward, toward the possibility of escape, freedom, and becoming someone other than the product of his circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/westward-Front-Cover-only.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-428\" width=\"198\" height=\"308\" srcset=\"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/westward-Front-Cover-only.jpg 432w, https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/westward-Front-Cover-only-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/westward-Front-Cover-only-96x150.jpg 96w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 198px) 100vw, 198px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Westward, Rick Ridgway tells the story of Joe, a boy growing up amid poverty, family turmoil, loneliness, and the unforgiving industrial landscape of postwar Cleveland. Caught between a troubled grandmother, an elusive mother, and a father drifting from one failed scheme to another, Joe struggles to understand love, anger, faith, and his own place in a world that often feels hostile. Raw, darkly funny, and intensely observant, Westward is a coming-of-age novel about abandonment and resilience\u2014and about a restless boy searching for a way beyond the boundaries of the life he has been given. As the people he loves move farther away, Joe begins to look westward, toward the possibility of escape, freedom, and becoming someone other than the product of his circumstances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/westward-Front-Cover-only.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":429,"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/429"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redgiantbooks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}