Julian

Julian is a small town in the mountains above a valley where Sean Callan and Nora Hayden seek temporary refuge. They pass through it while avoiding other people, then return to shop for clothes and books. In their flight, the town is both a route through the landscape and a source of everyday necessities for a more inconspicuous life.

Setting and Route

Callan and Nora climb the road into the mountains to reach Julian, then drive straight through. The road descends toward the coastal plain, past broad fields, apple orchards, and horse ranches, to a valley with a crossroads and scattered buildings. Their cottage lies in this quieter landscape; when they need supplies, Julian is four miles back up the hill. The route links the town’s small commercial center to the relative seclusion they are seeking.

Shops and Supplies

Julian’s main street is lined mostly with small restaurants selling apple pie, the local specialty, as well as a few boutiques. Nora buys a couple of casual dresses and a sweater there. They get much of the rest of their clothing at the hardware store, which stocks denim shirts, jeans, socks, and underwear. The mix of boutiques and workaday goods lets them assemble ordinary clothing without relying on a single kind of shop.

Nora also finds a used-book store and buys Anna Karenina, Middlemarch, The Eustace Diamonds, and two Nora Roberts romances. The purchases range from literary novels to the romances she privately regards as guilty pleasures, giving her time on the run a small, personal routine beyond the immediate work of staying hidden.

Role in the Flight

The visit to Julian is part of a deliberate effort to avoid attracting attention. Callan and Nora have agreed not to run recklessly, but also not to take needless risks; they give up the Harley and decide that Nora’s distinctive blond hair must be changed because pursuers may ask after a striking blond woman. The text does not place that change in Julian, but the town’s clothing shops supply some of the ordinary things needed as they try to become less recognizable.

After shopping, they return down the hill to the market across from their cottage for food and household goods. Julian is therefore not the hiding place itself, but the nearby town that makes their temporary domestic life possible: a place to buy clothes, books, and the mundane provisions of staying put while remaining difficult to find.