Kate Morton

A Novel

Homecoming

Gemma McCarthy

“Are you with me?” Polly was searching Jess's face, waiting tor an answer. Jess gave a nod and smiled. “I am.”

Home, she'd realised, wasn't a place or a time or a person, though it could be any and all of those things; home was a feeling, a sense of being complete. The opposite of ‘home' wasn't 'away', it was ‘lonely'

Jess's denial of their shared moment made Polly feel, in that moment, completely alone in the world.

 No longer a stranger, she was a woman with a favourite teacup. A transplant to a different country, something Jess well understood: belonging, but never quite fully, while another place, far, far away, maintained a stubborn claim as ‘home'.

Words, Jess had observed, could be as tricky as people: seeming to say one thing, when all the while another, secret meaning lay beneath the surface.

She wished she d brought a book. Ordınarily, she didn't go anywhere without one.

Jess's first reaction was embarrassment at having entered the wrong room. This frail old woman with skin so thin i was transparent could not be Nora. Nora was full of life: when she entered a room, people turned to see what had just happened. This person, this imposter, took up no space at all; her body was so tiny, her face in repose so old. 

'Someone I used to know a long time ago told me once that fear is the doorway to opportunity…’

Jess had been that young girl once, twenty years before. She knew about the excitement on the other side of the gate; the first taste of real freedom, the thrilling sense of being, at last, in control of one's own destiny.

It would be a celebration of ubiquity of stories and all those unseen parallels that threaded together to form the framework of our lives. How many points of interest there must be - some small and intimate, others more exceptional - hiding in the dusty stairwells of the city

Wow. What an incredible read. It was genuinely a pleasure to read and experience this story and by the end I felt so attached to it - as if I had been the one to discover everything that happened.

I loved the lay out of this book, being told in a dual timeline as well as having chapters of another book (relevant to the storyline) nested between the ‘regular chapters’. It was such a unique way to be able to gain extra context or have things revealed to us/the characters. 

To me the ending was exactly what I had hoped for. There was a (slightly predictable by the time I got to it) twist that nevertheless I felt was absolutely perfect to sum up the story. 

I adored Morton’s writing and I will definitely be picking up other things that she has written in the future!!

Wow. What an incredible read. It was genuinely a pleasure to read and experience this story and by the end I felt so attached to it - as if I had been the one to discover everything that happened.

I loved the lay out of this book, being told in a dual timeline as well as having chapters of another book (relevant to the storyline) nested between the ‘regular chapters’. It was such a unique way to be able to gain extra context or have things revealed to us/the characters. 

To me the ending was exactly what I had hoped for. There was a (slightly predictable by the time I got to it) twist that nevertheless I felt was absolutely perfect to sum up the story. 

I adored Morton’s writing and I will definitely be picking up other things that she has written in the future!!

This is a beautiful historical fiction story with the typical elements in all of Morton's books: a dual timeline, family secrets, and a big, rambling house. A woman in 2018 returns home to look after her ill grandmother and finds out that her family is tied to an unsolved murder/suicide from 1959. Morton's books are slow and a bit meandering but beautifully written. Sink into them and enjoy.

Cheri McElroy

This book entitled a historical fiction and mystery thriller but I don't know, it just doesn't sit right with me...  Maybe my expectation was too high for this genre? I feel intrigue at the early pages but while this lead to the middle until the end.. I can't feel anything; wether sad, curious, happy. It's just empty. I almost forgot that their pronunciation are similar with British, it's sorta like reading English Classic but it has lot of words (around 9k words I can't swallow it up at once).

The plot will guide you from two time: 1959 and 2018 that set around Brisbane and the Darling House for the murder, which I really thought that they will offer us some of motives or decent proof for the category but I can't find those in this book. It's like a long murder case that hasn't been solved so they still work it at this age. I can't find any decent name from the government or any iconic event in throughout the whole page. I found it interesting on < 100 page but I can't feel the vibe until I finished this book.

However, Homecoming is the book about home. How we finally can find our way back no matter how far we go, as we never escape our future, we need to dig our past even if it costs sort kind of sacrifices. You will see the connection between three generation, from sister, grandmother, mother to come across all the same. 

"That was the magic of books, the curious alchemy that allowed a human's mind to turn black ink on white pages into a whole other world." 

"Someone I used to know a long time ago told me once that fear is the doorway to opportunity. And I can assure you, my love, that every good thing that's happened to me since has come through acting despite my fears."

The most layered book I’ve read in a while. Morton basically wrote two books in one and intertwined timelines and storylines with ease. This book was different than a typical thriller or mystery, but refreshing in that sense. Each character is shaped by tragedy, often even unrecognized to the person. Great read overall!

Ariel Correa

The highly anticipated new novel from the worldwide bestselling author of The Clockmaker's Daughter, a spellbinding story that begins with a shocking crime, the effects of which echo across continents and generations.

Homecoming A Novel

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