Home Stretch
The Sunday Times bestseller and winner of the An Post Irish Popular Fiction Award
-
-
4.3 • 550 Ratings
-
-
- £0.99
Publisher Description
Home Stretch: the moving, wise story of shame, acceptance and finding your way back home
'Full of heart and humanity . . . I loved every single page'
ELIZABETH DAY
'Beautiful and heartbreaking'
PANDORA SYKES
'Intelligent and tenderly observed'
THE TIMES
It is 1987 and a small Irish community is shattered by a terrible accident. Young Connor is one of the survivors, but staying among the angry and the mourning is more than he can bear. He leaves the only place he knows, taking his secrets with him.
Travelling first to Liverpool, then London, he eventually makes a home for himself in New York. The city provides shelter and possibility, somewhere Connor can forget his past and start a new life. But the longings and regrets that have come to haunt those left behind will not be silenced. And before long, Connor will have to confront his past.
'A subtle portrait of small-town Ireland . . . a kind, wise, perceptive novel'
DAVID MITCHELL
'The kind of warmth and magical storytelling that puts me in mind of the late, great Maeve Binchy . . . a writer of real strength and talent'
LORRAINE KELLY
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A national treasure as a broadcaster, Graham Norton set himself on a path towards also becoming one of Britain and Ireland’s favourite authors with his first two novels Holding and A Keeper. This third maintains that trajectory via the engrossing story of lives transforming in the wake of a car crash that has devastating consequences for a small Irish town. Spanning decades and continents, Home Stretch explores guilt, shame, prejudice and identity, and how a person’s past can change as much as their future when, in a jaw-dropping twist, long-buried secrets surface. Zooming in on the lives of Connor and Ellen, siblings forced apart by the tragedy, Norton crafts two authentic, nuanced characters whose sadnesses and joys will tug at your heart throughout.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
TV host Norton's excellent third novel (after A Keeper) explores the aftermath of a tragedy as it plays out over decades. In 1987, a car accident outside a small Irish town leaves three dead the day before a wedding—including the bride and groom—and sends into a tailspin two young men who were also in the car when it crashed, Martin Coulter and Connor Hayes. Over the years, Martin and Connor deal with the repercussions of the accident and wrestle with guilt over the deaths in diametrically opposite ways. While Martin attempts to make amends, Connor buries the past and lies to those around him about his involvement. With surprising twists and touching moments, Norton explores the immense sense of loss that comes with being a survivor, and how nothing is ever truly forgotten for the families of those who died. While Martin and Connor settle into new lives in London and New York, a chance encounter and Martin's entreaties to the families of those who died in the crash force Connor to confront his role in the accident. Norton delicately covers themes of abandonment, death, and loss with sophistication and thoughtful empathy: "time might be able to numb, it could distract, but it was incapable of truly fixing anything." This gripping and compassionate outing is Norton's best yet.
Customer Reviews
Thoroughly enjoyed
Tears and laughter - an insight into the life of a young gay man and the effects of allowing someone else to make your decisions for you.
Tears
Tears of sadness, tears for life’s ended, tears for injustice, tears of happiness, tears for beautiful people.
A beautifully written book, that had me hooked from the very first sentence.
One single moment can change countless lives and produce an entirely different path that had never been thought of.
Brilliant
Excellent reading really enjoyed it