At the age of 34, Michael McGirr decides to take his charming mum on the honeymoon she and her late husband never got around to having. Between recounting their hilarious travels around Europe and meditating on the historical figures who dot their voyage—everyone from Hemingway to Michelangelo to the quietly heroic people who inspire McGirr's special brand of faith—he in this memoir, he plunges deep into his family history, unearthing sickness and depression but also moments of great love and perseverance.