Thursday, March 30, 2023

Homecoming

Homecoming by Kate Morton
4/4/23; 560 pages
HarperCollins

Homecoming by Kate Morton is a  highly recommended historical fiction and family mystery.

In Adelaide Hills on Christmas Eve in 1959 the Turner Family Tragedy occurs. The shocking crime, the effects of which echo across continents and generations, is never solved. The town of Tambilla becomes the setting of one of the most baffling murder investigations in the history of South Australia.

In 2018 journalist Jess Turner leaves London and travels back to Darling House in Sydney, Australia, after her grandmother, Nora, injures herself in a bad fall and is in the hospital. Nora raised Jess when her mother (Polly) couldn't. Nora learns that her grandmother fell while trying to retrieve a true crime book, As If They Were Asleep by Daniel Miller, chronicling the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. When Jess looks at the book she starts looking into the decades old murders and the secrets surrounding them.

Homecoming is beautifully written with exquisite descriptions, layered writing, and great character development. The narrative is told through multiple points-of-view. The first part of the novel is mainly told through the perspective of Jess and Percy while the second half adds additional points-of-view, including excerpts from the book by Daniel Miller. It is a complicated web of secrets and a puzzle to be solved.

Admittedly, the pacing is very slow on this one and the middle of the novel requires endurance and patience. The ending will be worth it, but the struggle through the middle may stay with readers. Fans of Morton will love this novel while those new to her writing might need some encouragement to stick it out to the end. The ending is so satisfying and pulls all the complicated plot threads of the mystery. 4.5 rounded down

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via Edelweiss.

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