Homecoming

Finished March 8

Homecoming by Kate Morton

This novel starts in the past, on New Year's Day in 1959, and moves back and forth between that 1959  and the near present, late 2018. The 1959 portion takes place in the Adelaide Hills, around a family, the Turners, that lived in a large house that had a sad past, built for a wife that never arrived. The first scene is an interesting one, letting us into the mind of Isabel Turner, a woman who is beginning to question the life she lives. It also ends on an interesting mysterious note with the arrival at the house of a man Isabel hadn't expected. This is followed by tragedy nearly a year later, with a local man, Percy Summers, the one to make the sad discovery on Christmas Eve. 

This present day part of the novel starts in London, but is set mostly in Australia. Jess, a journalist, is off to meet a friend after time spent at her favourite museum, and grabs a cab as rain begins. She receives a call from Australia, where she was born and grown up, telling her of her grandmother's hospitalization after a fall. Jess travels back to Australia, where she finds herself alone in her grandmother's large house, and begins to reflect on memories as well as look for reasons for her grandmother visiting a part of the house that led to her fall. 

One thing she finds is an old book, written by an American journalist, that tells of the tragedy in 1959, with apparent access to personal papers of the Turner family. As Jess begins to realize the connection between this event and her own family, she must also deal with family issues much closer to home, the relationship between herself, her mother, and her grandmother. 

I found this a fascinating read. As is usual for Morton, the characters are complex and feel real. As Jess uncovers her family's history and faces the strange dynamics between the three generations of women, we see the insecurities, fear, and love that underlie all of it. 

A great read.