When Terry Mulligan’s sons, Brennan and Colin set off on separate, round the world journeys, she has a hunch her life is going to get stressful—it does. One son runs out of air while scuba diving; the other flies head over heels off a motorcycle. Then, Terry gets a call saying, “Colin needs you to wire him the $3000 in his savings account.”

Partly through emails and letters, readers join these explorers in seventeen countries, on three continents, as they pay homage to sacred sites, bask in the kindness of strangers, and discover beauty in the world and in themselves. Ranging from heartwarming to heart thumping, and oftentimes hilarious, this smartly conceived book also confronts the complexity of parent-child love—including the endangered art of tough love—that helps boys become men.