Homecoming (by Cathy Kelly)

(Amazon UK link)

I read one of Cathy Kelly’s novels a few months ago, and liked it so much that I put more of them on my wishlist. I was given ‘Homecoming’ for Christmas, and started it a couple of weeks ago. It’s taken me this long to finish it, not because it was uninteresting, but because we’ve had a very busy period with little opportunity to read.

As with ‘The House on Willow Street’, which I read last September, this novel is set mostly in an Irish community, and is about four very different women. The first one we meet is Eleanor, an elderly woman who has recently lost her husband. We quickly learn that she and her mother left Ireland when she was just eleven, and she has never been back. She wants to visit the house they lived in, but is not yet ready to do so. So she takes a flat in an area called ‘Golden Square’, in Dublin.

We next meet Megan, a young and beautiful actress who has committed a serious indiscretion. She’s being hounded by the media, shunned by many of her friends. So she decides to escape for a while, and stay with her aunt Nora, who also lives in Golden Square.

Then there’s Connie, a tall and big-hearted school teacher, who is still grieving a broken romance from many years earlier. She has not yet met a man who could match up to her former love, and has a long list of criteria for any potential suitor. She’s approaching forty, and feels she should be fulfilled in her single life, but it’s not that easy. And her rather younger, much prettier sister Nicky is going to get married.

Finally, there’s Rae. She is a very generous, community-minded person, married to the wonderful Will. She runs a tea-shop where everybody gathers to chat, and she also volunteers regularly at a local community centre. She is much admired, and respected. But she also has a deep-rooted secret, which she can no longer keep hidden…

The novel switches perspective in each chapter, sometimes following these main protagonists, sometimes writing from the viewpoint of more minor characters. Inevitably they meet, and get to know and like each other; there are no ‘bad’ people in this book, other than a few shadowy ones from people’s pasts. As they interact, they inevitably learn more about each other and themselves. Eleanor, who used to work as a counsellor in the United States, is the catalyst for a lot of discovery and growth in the others - and becomes more open herself.

Each chapter begins with an excerpt from a diary Eleanor is reading. It was written by her mother intended to pass on recipes and general household hints. It gives some interesting insights into life seventy years earlier, and some of the hardships people experienced in farms, and during the depression years. Each short diary entry relates in some way to the chapter that follows, though it took me a while to realise this. But although interesting, these sections don't really add anything to the story as such.

As with the other novel I read by Cathy Kelly, I was reminded forcibly of Maeve Binchy several times. It’s partly the setting, partly the slight dialect in people’s speech, and partly in the general warmth of the situations and people.

My one problem with the book is that I found it hard to remember who was whom if I didn’t pick it up for a couple of days - and that happened more than once. I could recall the main characters, but found I had to check back to find out who was being referred to a couple of times, as I had not managed to make any real connection. Perhaps too many viewpoints were considered, making it hard to empathise fully with anyone.

Still, I liked the people very much, particularly Connie, whom I found very sympathetic. I found Rae a bit difficult to envisage, and she felt a bit more two-dimensional, although her flashbacks to the past are quite traumatic at times. I liked Eleanor too, and the way she is so good at listening to people, but I thought Megan was a bit irritating and thoughtless; this is explained partly by her upbringing, and she does mature through the book.

Overall, I enjoyed ‘Homecoming’ very much. I would recommend it to anyone who likes books of the Maeve Binchy genre. It’s quite slow-moving at times and mostly gentle, despite some quite gritty themes, and would make excellent holiday reading.

Review by Sue F copyright 2019 Sue's Book Reviews