You Could Be Home By Now
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In her debut novel, Tracy Manaster approaches many social issues through the intelligent and entertaining story of two young professionals that begin working at a luxury retirement community to deal with their personal struggles.
An hour and a half outside Tucson, Arizona, The Commons is a luxury retirement community where no full-time resident under the age of fifty-five is permitted. Young professionals Seth and Alison Collier accept jobs there as a means of dealing (badly) with a recent loss.
When a struggling resident, underwater on her mortgage and unable to relocate due to the nation’s ongoing housing crisis, is discovered to be raising her grandson in secret, the story--with the help of a well-meaning teenaged beauty blogger and a retiree with reasons of his own to seek the spotlight--goes viral.
You Could Be Home By Now explores the fallout for all involved, taking on the themes of grief and memory, aspiration and social class, self-deception, and the drive in all of us to find a place to belong.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Manaster's debut novel revolves around Seth and Alison Collier, young teachers whose newborn dies. Seeking a change of pace, they uproot from their Vermont home and move to Arizona. They take over roles at a retirement community, the Commons, where no residents under 55 are permitted, and soon they drift apart as they deal with their grief. Other residents have their own trials to face. Sadie, a recent widow, is visited by her teenage granddaughter, Lily, a disgraced blogger. When Lily saves the life of a young boy who secretly lives next door with his grandmother, Mona, his unlawful residence comes to light, making Mona eligible for eviction. However, Mona can't afford to leave her home because of the housing market. Complicating matters further are the antics of the recently divorced neighbor Ben, who acts out on television to call attention to his own plight: a long-missing daughter. Manaster weaves these disparate tales of strife and grief eloquently, impressively depicting an adolescent girl and an aging man with equal fullness and depth. She also resists the urge for easy resolution, denying her readers the simple feel-good solutions and instead offering small amounts of emotional satisfaction that feel realistic and earned.
