Going Home
A Novel
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- ¥2,000
発行者による作品情報
Going Home is a sparkling, funny, bighearted story of family and what happens when three men—all of whom are completely ill-suited for fatherhood—take charge of a toddler following an unexpected loss
Téo Erskine, now in his thirties, has moved on from childish things: He has a good job, a slick apartment in London, and when he heads back to the suburbs on the occasional weekend to visit his old friends, he makes sure everyone knows he can afford to pick up the tab. So what if he asks a few too many questions about Lia, the girl of their group, wondering if she will come out, if she’s seeing anyone, if she might give him another shot? Téo is hazily aware that something possibly happened between Lia and Ben Mossam, Téo’s closest friend and his greatest annoyance, but he can’t bring himself to ask. Lia, meanwhile, has no time to indulge their rivalry. She’s now the single mother of a toddler son, a kid named Joel that Téo occasionally (and halfheartedly) offers to babysit.
Téo is home for one such weekend when the unthinkable happens—a tragedy in the heart of their group—and he suddenly finds himself the unlikely guardian for little Joel. Together with his father, Vic, Ben Mossam, and Sybil, Lia’s beguiling rabbi, they bide time until they can find a proper home for Joel, teaching him to play video games, plying him with chicken nuggets and waffles, and learning to sing him lullabies at night. But when a juvenile mistake leads to a terrible betrayal, Téo must decide what kind of man he wants to be. Wise, relatable, and blissfully laugh-out-loud funny, Going Home is a captivating first novel that explores the mysterious ways children can force us to grow up fast while simultaneously keeping us young forever.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A man finds himself caring for his deceased friend's toddler in Lamont's affecting debut. Téo Erskine, 30, holds a steady job in London, where he lives alone, and spends one weekend a month visiting his widowed father, Vic, and fellow Jewish friends Ben Mossam, a wealthy playboy, and Lia Woods, a single mother, in the northern suburb where he grew up. One Friday night at the local pub, Téo, who has a crush on Lia, agrees to babysit her two-year-old son, Joel, the next day. He brings the boy to Vic's house, and after Lia fails to answer his texts, Téo learns that she has died by suicide. The Erskines are then visited by a team of social workers, who ask Téo and Vic to keep Joel there for a few months until they can track down his father. Téo goes on leave from work and the men adjust with the help of Ben, who buys Joel a trampoline; and Sibyl Challis, a new rabbi, who takes Joel for walks. Before the social workers return, Téo is shocked by a startling revelation. Though the story takes a while to gel, Lamont offers a textured view of Téo's family and Jewish community, and he keeps the reader invested as the characters adjust to Lia's death and attempt to figure out Joel's future. Readers will be hooked.
