“A Thousand Roads Home” by Carmel Harrington

Title: A Thousand Roads Home

Author: Carmel Harrington
Publisher: HarperCollins
Year: 2018
Genre(s): contemporary fiction
Part of a Series: No.
Rating: 

Why I read it: Once Upon a Book Club pick

Summary: When Ruth Wilde and her son DJ lose their home and have to move into a hotel provided by the council, she feels like an absolute failure. Dr. Tom O’Grady has chosen to live outside, finding it allows him to escape into his happy memories and ignore the painful ones in his life. Their worlds collided once and when they collide again, Ruth and Tom find out that changing the world can start with one person.

Review: This is another one that I struggled with at the beginning but once it caught me, I was hooked for the rest of the story. And I would say for me, that moment was once Tom’s and Ruth’s stories collided.

Not that their stories alone weren’t interesting because they were. But there was just something about the moment that their stories met that imbued the story with more intrigue and sent the plot really moving along at a good pace.

The chapters not only alternate between Ruth and Tom but they also alternate between the past and the present, so we get a full understanding about both our main characters. We get to see Ruth’s relationship with her own parents play out and how it informs who she is in the present, especially as she struggles to raise her son and deal the struggles of her life – namely her autism and the fact that they are homeless, living in a hotel while waiting for government housing.

We also find out more about Tom and the happy life he had as a popular doctor with a family he loved before he chose to live on the streets. It’s clear that his story has some tragedy but it still hurts even when expecting it. He is a broken man who has lost his way until he finds Ruth and DJ, who he already shared a connection with that is really sweet.

Overall, this ultimately a story about found family and I enjoyed watching Ruth build her new family. It helped her embrace herself and find the confidence she needed to forge a new life for herself, DJ and possibly Tom. And it was beautiful.

Now, I normally avoid spoilers but I spent the entire book worrying about this so I’ll save someone else the anxiety: there is a brief moment where the dog gets hurt but the dog gets a happy ending along with her owner.

Bottom line: A beautiful but still heartbreaking story of loss, family and life.

Sex: Mentions but nothing graphic

Moonlight Musing

What does home mean to you?