Homecoming
By: Kate Morton
My Rating: FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS
Best for: 16 and up

Just when you think you have it figured out…

You can almost say, if you’ve read one Kate Morton book, you’ve read them all.

But you can’t.

You can safely expect a few things: A mystery to solve. A duel timeline story. A family tragedy to uncover. Beautiful writing. England. Australia. Or both. Thinking you’ve solved the puzzle, then realizing there’s more. Satisfying endings.

Those are the ingredients, but Kate Morton is AN AUTHOR. No matter how many times she mixes the same ingredients, the story she bakes is unique.

I thought Homecoming was one of her best.

It’s the story of a struggling, young journalist living in London who gets the call: There’s been an accident. Return home to Australia. Grandma, loved by all and the one who raised you, has had an accident. She’s not worried. It’s time for a fresh start anyway. Grandma’s going to be fine–she always is.

But this time, she’s not. And in her delirium she let’s spill some nuggets of family mystery that lead our journalist along branches of her family tree she didn’t even know existed. Scandal. Mental illness. Tragedy. Murder.

I loved following this MC on her journey of family enlightenment. These mysteries were fun to solve! The settings were as much of a character as the humans, too. Rural Australia in the 1950’s and modern Australia in the 2010’s came alive for me in just that way Kate Morton is able to do. The times and locations became an integral piece of the puzzle, and as always, I loved the dual time streams that Kate Morton is famous for. This time around there was another element of interesting: a book-within-a-book. (You are a true book nerd if this gives you goose bumps…)

As the two times begin to merge, and the book-within-the-book comes to an end, the mystery slowly comes together, and you’re going to be certain you had it all figured out–only to turn the page and realize the layers of this mystery have layers of their own. The end doesn’t become clear…

…until the end.

There are no content concerns other than length, and the story is complex. Sensitive topics include death, tragedy, murder, infidelity, parental abandonment, and post-partum depression. Advanced 14 year old’s should be able to handle this one just fine, but I’ll officially say best for 16 and up.

Happy Reading!