#BookReview A Thousand Roads Home by Carmel Harrington #AThousandRoadsHome @HappyMrsH

A Thousand Roads Home 

‘Everyone has felt like an outsider at some point in their lives.

This is the book that will make you feel you belong.’

Due for publication on 18th October with Harper Collins, A Thousand Roads Home is the latest novel from Irish Times bestselling author Carmel Harrington.

Described as ‘warm, powerful and unforgettable – a novel about second chances, friendship and unlikely heroes,’ I am thrilled to bring you all my review today.

Hazel Gaynor says ‘It belongs on everyone’s shelf, and in everyone’s hearts’

Liz Nugent says it’s ‘brave and original’

Read on for my thoughts…

About the Book:

Where is home? Wherever the people you love are.

Single mother, Ruth, and her son, DJ, have never truly fitted in, but that didn’t matter, so long as they were together. When their home comes under threat, their quiet life will change forever but not in the way they imagined.

DJ meets Tom, a man who ten years ago walked out of his house and never looked back. Ruth, DJ and Tom have all felt like outsiders. Burdened with grief and insecurities, they are not living their best lives. But together, these three ordinary people will do an extraordinary thing…

My Review:

Carmel Harrington has tackled many issues in her latest release A Thousand Roads Home.

We all want a roof over our heads, we all want to be accepted by others and ultimately we all want to be loved. Nobody wants to be treated differently because of the way we are born or due to the path we have taken, by choice or otherwise. In A Thousand Roads Home, Carmel Harrington introduces us to three ordinary people with a very extraordinary story to tell.

Ruth is a single mother, originally from Wexford. Growing up with a mother who never understood her, Ruth has been challenged for most of her life. As a child, she was picked on and bullied, left with no friends and a dreadful longing to be part of something. Ruth liked things to be done in a very specific manner, her clothes to be worn a certain way and her food to be white. There were no expectations that Ruth would ever meet anyone, no hope of a happy-ever-after for Ruth, forever ridiculed, in a home where there was no real love.

But then Dean came along. Dean understood Ruth. Dean loved Ruth. In a whirlwind few days Ruth could see her life transformed and she saw light at the end of the tunnel…..she saw hope. But then Dean disappeared and Ruth was pregnant. Now over ten years later and Ruth is about to be evicted out of her rental home in Dublin. With her ten-year old son, DJ, to look after. Ruth is suffering. Like many in today’s society, Ruth and DJ, join the housing list for the homeless and move into emergency accommodation. This is their story….

Tom is one of the many who sleep out at night-time on a park bench, in a doorway, under a bridge. Tom has suffered his own tragedy. Ten years ago his life changed forever and Tom walked away from everything he knew. Now a man in his sixties, he has gotten somewhat used to this life of hardship, keeping to himself, with his best friend and loyal companion, Bette Davis, the only friend he needs by his side. But one day Tom meets DJ. This is Tom’s story…

Ruth, DJ and Tom have invisible threads binding them together. They each have faced terrible difficulties in life, yet they understand each other. Over time their relationship develops, as they attempt to navigate through harsh and frightening obstacles just to survive. It’s hard to keep going when you feel that society has given up on you, when you feel that you are invisible to many, when you feel you are just another statistic. With determination and the will to keep going, these three form a very fragile but very special bond.

A Thousand Roads Home is a very contemporary book, as Carmel Harrington brings these faceless and nameless people into our homes and lives. How many of us have passed a doorway where someone lies almost unconscious and we have tutted? How many of us have crossed the road to avoid a ‘shifty’ looking homeless person? How many of us are guilty of doing nothing? There is that famous saying, that we are all only two paychecks away from being like Ruth, DJ and Tom, homeless. A very shocking statistic that we all wave around and perhaps ignore…sure it will never happen to us.

A Thousand Roads Home highlights, not just homelessness, but also Asperger’s syndrome. Many of us may know children on the spectrum and we can see the wonderful work that is currently being carried out by families and volunteers on a daily basis. But what of those who have fallen through the cracks, those whose ‘condition’ wasn’t perhaps, historically, recognised in the education system?

A Thousand Roads Home is ultimately a book about hope, about finding someone who will help you and support you, finding someone who will make you feel you belong.

Carmel Harrington writes with a very chatty and warm style, which really brings the reader into the story and into the lives of the characters. We see them blossom and we see them shine, but we also get to see behind their veneers, when the cracks begin to show. We root for them and we hope that they will find peace, a place to call home, a place to thrive.

A Thousand Roads Home is a book that will make you stop and think. It will bring a tear to your eye and a gentle smile to your face. A very heartwarming read folks!

Emotional. Contemporary. Heartening

Purchase Link ~ A Thousand Roads Home 

Bio

Irish Sunday Times Bestseller, Carmel Harrington is an award-winning author from Co. Wexford, where she lives with her husband Roger and two children.

Her seventh novel, A Thousand Roads Home is out on 18th October 2018.

Her page-turning novels are published worldwide, translated into eight different languages. She is a regular on Irish TV and has been interviewed in the UK on BBC, in the US on WNDU TV plus on many Irish shows, including Ireland AM, The Morning Show and The Today Show. Radio interviews include RTE’s Ryan Tubridy show and BBC Ulster.

She writes feature articles for many newspapers and magazines. A popular keynote speaker she has given talks in Ireland, UK & USA.

Carmel is co-founder and Chair of Wexford Literary Festival, which she has curated since 2014. She is also co-founder of The Inspiration Project alongside Hazel Gaynor and Catherine Ryan Howard.  

Website ~ http://carmelharrington.com/

Twitter ~ @HappyMrsH