This Is Home

Starred review from February 25, 2019
Authentic characters resonate throughout this engrossing novel from Duffy (The Salt House) as a woman tries to understand why her husband, a soldier with PTSD, has left her. Quinn Ellis’s husband, John, was deployed twice in their five years of marriage; after the last tour, he came back to their home in Massachusetts but soon after disappeared.
Quinn’s work as a nanny is the only thing keeping her anchored while she tries to find John and waits for him to get in touch with her. After receiving a notice that her lease won’t be renewed, Quinn accepts an offer from John’s former sergeant, Bent Winters, a local cop in Paradise, Mass.: she can stay on the first floor of the triple-decker he lives in with his sisters, Lucy and Desiree, and his teen daughter, Libby. Alternating points of view from Libby and Quinn provide the contrasting perspectives of a teenage girl on the brink of adulthood and a wife coping with the sorrow and guilt of her fractured marriage. Over time, Quinn and Libby come to see each other as family, healing their mutual loneliness. A healthy dose of humor balances the sadness of Quinn’s story. Intensely real and deeply emotional, Duffy’s rich novel is worth savoring from the very first page. Agent: Danielle Burby, Nelson Literary.

April 15, 2019
Duffy's (The Salt House, 2017) latest is a novel of family, friendship, and the meaning of home. Ever since Libby's mom died, Libby and her cop father, Bent, have been making a home for themselves with Bent's sisters, Lucy and Desiree. While Libby's aunts have always tried to protect her from the perils of adulthood, Bent has no qualms treating Libby like the mature teen she is, sometimes to her detriment. When Quinn, the wife of a missing army friend of Bent's, moves in downstairs, Libby begins to learn more about life?how messy it can be, how people can change for better or worse, and that home is the people you surround yourself with. Written from the perspectives of Libby and Quinn, the novel follows each young woman as she learns about who she is and what it is she wants from life. Also touching on such topics as post-traumatic stress disorder, military service, and addiction, This Is Home makes a great addition to any family life or women's fiction collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)