On Home

Becca Spence Dobias is a dear friend, and I have had the pleasure of editing her work several times. I am so pleased that ON HOME will soon be out in the world.

Although Cassidy is the main protagonist, this is really a family story, with many layers going back generations. Cassidy makes her living doing cam work in California, but her roots are back in West Virginia. Her mother, Paloma, and her grandmother, Jane, both tell their parts of the story. In short, arresting chapters, we cycle through their points of view. Jane, who is in a nursing home now, reflects on her life as a Government Girl during World War II, while Paloma recollects her time spent in Czechoslovakia with Cassidy's father, Ken. Jane isn't doing well, and Paloma wants Cassidy to come home - but when Ken dies unexpectedly, Cassidy doesn't have a choice but to return.

Through the flashbacks and unfolding of the present-day story, the novel explores the definition of home and what makes a place a home. It also comments on how our identities are tied to the places we're from, and how we can feel contempt for a place and yet be inextricably tied to it. Finally, there's the definition of family and how we make it, through both blood ties and chosen relationships. Layered with these themes is the lyrical writing, which propels the reader through each story and the novel as a whole. Since Becca is my friend, I can honestly say that I am jealous of how well she writes - with surprising turns of phrase that delight the reader on each page.

Readalikes are going to be different depending on what brings you to the story. I would definitely recommend this book for those who enjoyed Natalka Burian's DAUGHTERS OF THE WILD. Burian's book includes magical realism, but both novels are set in Appalachia and contain gorgeous writing. I might also recommend to fans of Chloe Benjamin's THE IMMORTALISTS, another well-researched family story told from differing perspectives.

This beautifully written book is a sensitive and insightful portrait of three generations of women struggling with sexuality, relationships and belonging. Grandma Jane's story begins post-WW2 as she leaves her small town in West Virginia to go and work in the big city - Washington D.C where men in uniform seem to prey on young, impressionable women. Paloma, Jane's daughter-in-law, meets her husband, Ken in Prague while she's teaching at a university there. Cassidy, Paloma's daughter, left West Virginia behind and is a cam girl in Southern California. When her father, Ken is killed in an accident, she comes home intending only to stay for the funeral, but fate takes a turn . The setting of small town, West Virginia is a major factor in this novel. Jane sees it as a place of safety while Paloma, who at first viewed it as a good place to raise a family, feels suffocated and longs for the liberated lifestyle she left behind in Prague. Cassidy feels that returning to Buckannon is a sign of her continued failure in the eyes of her mother, and the interaction between the two is prickly and distant as they try to interact without the buffer of Cassidy's beloved father. The interaction between the three women and their attempts to come to terms with their life in the small town, and their place in the world as women, is skilfully and expertly portrayed by Dobias who weaves a well-paced, compelling story that deals with many deep human issues such as the fleeting nature of experience as well as the sanctuary of home and family, and the power of love.