'Wayward' is the tale of Samantha Raymond's existential crisis amid her personal life's fragmentation. At fifty-two, she contemplates motherhood, mortality, and her nation’s tumult during nocturnal bouts of wakefulness known as 'the Mids'. When Samantha impulsively purchases a dilapidated house in Syracuse, she abandons her suburban existence and estranges herself from family, all to discover a deeper sense of purpose and beauty in the midst of an unraveling country. This thought-provoking novel by Dana Spiotta examines the raw complexities of aging, the female experience, and the quest for identity in contemporary America.