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There are currently 29 member reviews
for How to Find Your Way Home
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DeAnn A. (Denver, CO)
Where is Home?
Featuring a homeless man who finds his way home, this story really resonated with me. This book shows the power of love and family and explores just what home means to people. I enjoyed the dual timeline (past/current) in this one and the ending was really powerful. This book made me think about a few things, would I take in someone who had been homeless? Does everyone deserve a second chance? I would recommend this to anyone who likes family stories. I think this one would be a great book club discussion book as everyone has an opinion on the homeless, maybe even knows someone who is homeless.
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Lizmarie
How to Find Your Way Home
Emily is working toward having it all: her dream house, a lovely garden, a satisfying career and a budding romance. But something, or rather someone, is missing. She is not at home in her own house. She has spent the last ten years searching obsessively for her big brother, her childhood hero and protector. She knows that Stephen is homeless, just another invisible man struggling to survive on the streets.
Stephen is cold, wet, hungry, physically and emotionally exhausted. Since his release from prison, he is alone, having lost even his homeless friends due to their reliance on drugs and alcohol to cope with their pain and alienation. His only escape from misery is his love of birdwatching, a hobby he shared with Emily when they were inseparable children.
A chance encounter reunites the siblings, but their way home to each other is not assured. They are plagued by small annoyances like tobacco in Emily's pristine house and serious resentments, family secrets, deceit, denial and overwhelming guilt.
Book clubs will find many themes to discuss including family relationships, estrangement, the ripple effects of choices, bullying, social issues like homelessness and substance abuse.
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Pamela W. (Piney Flats, TN)
Emotionally Tough Read but Worth It
How many more books can I read about a dysfunctional family? At least one more. "How to Find Your Way Home" was worth my time and emotional investment. The characters are developed enough to recognize in real life. The structure isn't a simplistic linear narrative. The resolution isn't a foregone conclusion. I will recommend this read to my friends.
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Catherine O. (Altavista, VA)
Real
Intertwining birdwatching with the story of siblings Stephen and Emily made How to Find Your Way Home so authentic. The love these siblings had for birds and the escape that birdwatching provided from their unhappy childhood home was so strong it allowed them to find a way back to each other after decades apart. The author creates characters so real that reading the novel is like stepping into their lives. I know that anyone who enjoys a novel with characters who evolve will devour this book. I will be recommending it to my book club. It also made me want to go birdwatching!
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Jessamyn R. (Fayetteville, NC)
A Brother-Sister Story with Great Setting
I enjoyed this book tremendously for its empathetic portrayal of homelessness and those within a broken system, and for the somewhat less typical portrayal of a brother/sister relationship (a nice change from the usual sisters, female friends, mother/daughter or romantic pairings). Steve's protectiveness of his sister seemed a bit over the top in some cases, but I liked both him and Emily enough for it to work. The "twist" at the end was a surprise to me - though I thought E's repression of it could have used a bit more fleshing out - and I liked that their relationship with their mother was left open ended instead of tied up with a bow. The descriptions of the birds and marshes were a treat - one of my favorite parts of the book. I now want to go see the swifts and citrus finch for myself!
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Mary L. (Greeley, CO)
Hope--a thing with feathers
Emily Dickinson's poem haunted me as I read this British novel as it reveals painful mistakes haunting a family split apart by frailty, bullying, tragedy, and a huge lie. Something lurks just beyond the reader's reach until near the end. An adult brother and sister, separated for many years, tentatively come back together to face truths which truly set them, at last, free like the birds the brother has always loved.
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Barbara F. (Santa Monica, CA)
Will They Find Their Way Home?
It's been too long since I read such a heartfelt book as "How to Find Your Way Home', so was delighted to get an advance copy from Book.Browse. Regan's writing resonated for me and as I read—kept wondering (hoping) Emily & Stephen would indeed re-connect after do many years. I suspect the open-ended long pandemic contributed to my worry about re-connection & reconciliation.
Emily's ostensibly leading the 'good life' while her brother Stephen has been surviving on the streets for many years after getting out of prison. For what? Why? What happened to cause this turn of events when it seemed their early lives together with their dad & mom—and bird watching—seemed so happy?
But all is not as it was in the present, & slowly, things began to fall into place as I held my breath, with fingers crossed as I continued reading,
Like "Dear Edward", the author introduces us to a traumatized brother and sister—still emotionally wounded by their shared family history with a key question hovering in the background—is it ever too late? Readers will not be disappointed by this life-affirming novel which reminds us it isn't.
