Forty Blocks

by Reggie

Forty Blocks is a novel set on a scorching August afternoon in Chicago, where Owen leaves his car on an on-ramp after being laid off from a job in insurance claims and begins walking across the city to pick up his sixteen-year-old daughter. As he makes his way block by block toward Lake Street, the novel follows his physical journey and the memories, calculations, and unfinished obligations that surface along the way. Part walk through the city, part reckoning with work, divorce, fatherhood, and the weight of time, the story moves through Chicago streets, small encounters, and the pressure of an appointment he cannot miss. Reggie’s novel is suited to readers drawn to character-driven fiction, urban settings, and intimate stories about one difficult day that opens onto larger questions of family, loss, and responsibility.