HOMECOMING by Kate Morton

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*** ALERT: THERE ARE A FEW SPOILERS IN MY REVIEW ***

What would you do if you found out that everything you knew about your family was a lie? "Homecoming" by Kate Morton is the new best-selling novel from Kate Morton, who was awarded the Australian Book Industry Awards in 2013.When divorced and jobless reporter Jess Turner-Bridges receives a phone call from a nurse in Sydney hospital where her grandmother Nora has been admitted, she leaves London precipitately to look after the woman who raised her. Nora is in her 90s and is quite confused when Jess arrives at her bedside. “The pages,” Nora says. “Help me....He’s going to take her from me.” Jess needs to find answers to appease her grandmother's tormented soul but as she digs, she discovers a shocking story: Nora's sister-in-law and her four children died in 1959 in mysterious circumstances. 

Set in the beautiful location of Darling House in Sydney and a Tombilla village in the 1950s, the book is atmospherically written, with split timelines, its pages buzzing with colors and smells, and bouncing with exotic descriptions of Australian critters and creatures. Kate Morton chooses her words carefully and knows how to harness their rhythm and beat into sentences, creating melodies that stir up so many emotions. The cadence in her scenes reminds me of fairytales, though her story is far from romantic fantasy. 

She centered her story around two pivotal female characters: Jess and Nora. I never felt very fond of Jess, though I never disliked her. I found her needy, melodramatic at times, and maybe with a tendency towards self-pity, in need to be rescued all the time. She wants to step up to the challenge and be there for her grandmother and that's why she is so determined to understand the past: to comfort Nora. As for Nora, I never liked her character from the word go. At first, she is painted by Jess as a loving, energetic, determined, self-sufficient person but I immediately felt repulsed by a few remarks she made to Jess or to her daughter Polly. And as the story unfolded, I realised my instincts were right. She is the covert narcissistic self-absorbed archetype of motherhood. She has manipulated everybody for her own benefit, stolen a child, and let people accuse an innocent person of heinous crimes. She destroyed her sister-in-law's character to cover her own tracks. She has lied to the world and to the people who loved her the most and worst of all, she has destroyed her own daughter Polly denying her any chance of happiness, molding her into a vulnerable woman who grew estranged from her own daughter. Nora used all the tricks in the book: gaslighting, emotional blackmail, financial control, and guilt-tripping. She was so desperate to be needed and validated as a mother, and so terrified to be left alone that she actually stole 2 children in her lifetime: Polly from her brother and sister-in-law, and then Jess from Polly. One inconsistency with Nora's character is the fact that she encouraged Jess to go to London to pursue her dreams. And Nora did it all in the name of love, forgetting that love is not about possession. A detestable character whom Jess, in spite of it all, seems to forgive.

I would have liked some insights into other characters' perspectives. For instance, how did Meg feel when she learned about her husband's affair, and why did she do what she did with such little concern for the safety of others? Did she not pause to think about the ramifications of her actions for an instant (for her own son, Kurk who was madly in love with Matilda)? Or was it just pure rage, despair? I would have also liked to read a scene between Nora and Meg, on the night of the fateful event. What made them keep each other's secrets? Thomas Turner felt somehow like a loose end too and another scene revealing his relationship with his sister would have put the reader's mind to rest. This is where Kate Morton lost a star in my rating. 

Yet, I loved "Homecoming" and I felt a sense of loss as I finished the book. So many secondary characters I grew very fond of like Percy. For a few days, it felt like a little wake in my head. It is such a big book that it is unlikely I will read the story again. And so, I will miss the town of Tombilla and its inhabitants. I enjoyed the idea of a novel within a novel and found the technique quite insightful on many levels, putting a stamp of authenticity to a completely fictional story. Kate Morton is imaginative and creative, and I cannot wait to review her next work. This is a book you will love losing yourself in. Trust me.