Home: the most moving and heartfelt novel you'll read this year

by Penny Parkes

Laura Kirman (Narrator)

A gripping and heartfelt story about overcoming the past and finding where you belong.
 
Anna Wilson travels the world as a professional housesitter – stepping into other people’s lives - caring for their homes, pets and sometimes even neighbours. Living vicariously.
 
But all Anna has ever really wanted is a home of her own – a proper one, filled with family and love and happy memories. If only she knew where to start.
 
Growing up in foster care, she always envied her friends their secure and carefree lives, their certainty and confidence. And, while those same friends may have become her family of choice, Anna is still stuck in that nomadic cycle, looking for answers, trying to find the courage to put down roots and find a place to call home.
 
Compelling, rich and evocative, Home is Anna’s journey to discovering that it isn’t where you settle down that matters, but the people you have around you when you do. 

• ISBN10: 1471181944
• ISBN13: 9781471181948
• Publish Date: 8 July 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster UK
• Edition: Unabridged
• Format: Audiobook
• Duration: 12 hours and 12 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Emma (SCR)]

This review was originally posted on Star Crossed Reviews I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Books in the City for letting me take part in this tour. I’ve only read the first book in Penny’s Larkford series but I absolutely loved it. When I saw Penny had a new standalone I knew I had to read it.

The main character in this book is Anna. Anna has not had the most stable upbringing which has really had an affect on her view on herself. Anna is smart, capable and very resilient. She would completely disagree with that statement too. I really liked Anna. Her story was so interesting.

I loved the structure of this book. Each chapter told you where you were and what year. I liked that we flicked from the present and then back to the past to give some relevant back story. It really helped to make a more rounded story.

I loved Anna’s relationship with Kate. I love how they will be there for eachother no matter what. They can be truly honest with no fear that they will be cast aside by the other. It’s a very rare thing.

Penny manages to write about the foster care system in such a way that you really understand everything that Anna has been through. It is such a difficult topic to write about but I think that Penny did it beautifully.

This book is a story of life, of love, of friendship, of broken hearts and happy endings. It was a real pleasure to enter Anna’s life and the story will stay with me for a long time.