MacLean’s work as a travel writer has taken him across the world, whether flying a handbuilt plane over Crete or riding shotgun with a drug warlord in Burma. Unable to process her death, he turns to travel to seek out “thin places”: áiteanna tanaí in Celtic mythology, where the veil between worlds is porous. MacLean’s skills as a travel writer are evident. And more than once, the book is let down by outdated language about minority groups (described as “crippled” and “swarthy-skinned”). In each new location, his soul-searching follows a pattern: initial disappointment, followed by a last-minute breakthrough.