Run Away Home

Love the all of the Character’s Stories

Run Away Home by Catherine Manett takes place in a place that is close to home for me, Long Island, New York. It is here that we are introduced to three foster children. Let’s start with Peter. Peter thinks he’s an adult now that he is twenty one. When tragedy breaks and his foster mom passes away,he steps in and adopts his foster sibling “Danny.” He quickly becomes overwhelmed with two jobs and an eighth grader to take care of. Oh and we quickly learn that Peter is holding many secrets as well, secrets that even Danny doesn’t know about. Will these secrets and becoming a Dad throw Peter over the edge or will he find a way to pull through it?
There is another foster adult living with them, her name is Hayley. She is a fun-loving, horoscope reading, twenty year old. She thought moving in with Peter would be a party every day, until he told her he was bringing Danny. She sees Danny as a responsibility that she wants nothing to do with. Now let's cut her some slack here, I mean how many of us are ready to take on all the stress and problems that come with parenthood at twenty. Hayley had a heartbreaking, gut punching childhood. We learn that all Hayley’s complications and rebellious acts stem from a neglectful upbringing. It is because of the environment she was exposed to that she reaches for the quick release of drugs. She starts taking them to escape from her depression and then they take over without her control or realization. She often feels trapped and is not sure she will be able to escape. She is faced with the hardest path, how to rescue yourself.
Danny is the last foster child we meet in this book, but not the last character. He’s pretty consumed with a lot of his own day to day obstacles. One of many is the fact that his only parent is Peter. Although Danny knows Peter is trying his hardest he still slips through. He does not do that well in school, but he does try. He stays after and goes to extra help, but he still doesn’t get it. He tries making friends by joining a sports team, but gets into fights instead. He is a very troubled child who learns he has a lot of questions that cannot be answered. The most important is, who am I? He does not know who his parents are and therefore does not know his ethnicity. He also starts to realize that he has anger issues but is not sure why. Will Danny be able to step back enough from his own troubles and be able to support Peter as well?
We meet a few other characters as we go through their story, and some of them, like Tristian, make a huge dent in their paths and try to ruin it all. But the real questions are how does it happen and what do they do to fight back? Then there is Kara and her path in all this, might just be to snap Peter back into what Danny needs him to be. But can she stick around long enough to help?
Run Away Home shows us that our past can still haunt us and if we let it, it will keep haunting us. Pick up this novel and see if these characters can accept their past and what secrets come with it.