About the Book

In the wake of World War II, Rob Smith’s father moves the family from a Brooklyn apartment to a rundown farmhouse in rural Pond Eddy, New York, chasing a vision of self-reliance and a better life. What awaits them is a house with no plumbing, no heat, and no clear future.

Told through the keen eyes of a young boy, The Lower Road captures the joys and trials of country life: building secret treehouses, dodging snakes, surviving icy winters, and witnessing the slow unraveling of a marriage. At its heart is a mother whose quiet strength and fierce love guide her family through uncertainty and change.

By turns funny, tender, and deeply honest, this memoir is a vivid portrait of resilience, sacrifice, and what it means to grow up in the shadow of other people’s decisions-learning, as Rob did, to fall forward.