The Distance Home
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- €5.99
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- €5.99
Publisher Description
Must a child's past define their future?
'Stark and beautiful . . . I haven’t read anything this good in a long time' – Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Set on the rugged plains of South Dakota, The Distance Home is the story of René and Leon, two children who grow up side by side but end up on very different paths. René is clever, athletic, aggressive, a go-getter, the apple of her father's eye; while Leon is shy, tender-hearted, a stutterer, constantly struggling for acknowledgement. They both possess a talent for dance, but it is a gift their father adores in his daughter and loathes in his son.
A heartbreaking saga of familiar turmoil, a child's desire for acceptance, and the ways in which our parents shape the adults we become, Paula Saunders' The Distance Home is a breathtaking new examination of the American dream and the eternal question of how any of us can finally be free.
'A heartfelt tale of brutal parental love' The Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Saunders debuts with a penetrating and insightful deconstruction of a Midwestern family. The story starts with Eve and Al, high school sweethearts who marry, have children, and find themselves mired in jealousy and misunderstanding. Throughout, Eve's indomitable spirit won't be quashed, no matter the conflicts or the despair that hover over her family. Firstborn Leon, an athlete with a penchant for ballet, is as opposite from his father as can be imagined. Middle child Ren , a fierce, competitive sprite, takes up ballet like her brother and can do no wrong in her father's eyes, much to Eve's consternation, whose heart lies with her first born. As the family moves from Missouri to South Dakota, where Al grows his cattle business and spends more time away from home, the story contrasts Ren , driven to achieve despite the resentment it causes in everyone who crosses her path and Leon, a misguided soul bearing his father's wrath. The sweet, easygoing youngest child, Jayne, doesn't get the same attention as the other characters. Still, Saunders brilliantly parses Leon and Ren 's disparate paths; they are two wildly talented, sensitive souls one shattered by life's circumstances, the other learning to soar above them. This debut wonderfully depicts the entire lifespan of a singular family.
