Things You Get for Free

Things You Get for Free is a travelogue rich with charm and wisdom and sparkling with its author’s singular wit. As a priest, Michael McGirr decides to take his charming and inimitable mum on the honeymoon she and her late husband never got around to having. He uses his six-week vacation to take her on a tour of Europe. Between meditating on their hilarious and illuminating travels and on the historical figures who dot their voyage – everyone from Hemingway to Michelangelo to the quietly heroic people who inspire Michael’s special brand of faith – McGirr plunges deep into his family history, unearthing sickness and instability but also moments of great love and perseverance. Things You Get for Free is a deeply moving spiritual and intellectual journey, proving the truth behind a mother’s favorite saying: I know more than you think I do.