Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

Life had always been a struggle for Ms. Tillerman. She had four children with a man whom she hadn’t married. He left her without notice, after she gave birth to her fourth child, Sammy. Their family never had much except for each other.

Early one morning she ushered her four children to pack their belongings and get in their old red car. They were headed to the house of their great aunt Cilla, who lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It was a long drive from their tiny house in Providence, Road Island. Although the four children pressed their mother, she wouldn’t tell them why they were leaving. Dicey who was 13 and the oldest child in the family, had heard a lot about her great aunt’s house. In the past she had always wanted to go there. It was a big white house by the ocean. But now for some reason Dicey wasn’t feeling very happy about leaving. It might have been because her mother was acting so uneasy.

They stopped at the grocery store, and the children’s mother told Dicey, James, Maybeth and Sammy sternly to stay inside their old red caravan, while she went inside to buy groceries. An hour went by and still they waited. All four children watched the entrance to the grocery store anxiously. Dicey tried to reassure them that their mother would come back any second, although she didn’t feel so sure herself. Four hours went by, and finally Dicey decided to go search for their mother who was no where to be found. Had she really abandoned her four children? Dicey then decided that the matter was in her hands, and that she had to get her three siblings to Bridgeport safely, but how?

After many days of walking along highways and sleeping in abandoned homes, Dicey realized that they will not be able to make it to Bridgeport unless she can get more money. She found work at gas stations scrubbing windows and stocking shelves, while James, Maybeth and Sammy waited outside for her, trying not to draw too much attention. Throughout the story Dicey was forced to lie for the safety of her brothers and sister. She is learning that not everyone can be trusted, and that life may never get easier.

This book is very unreallistic, and the family only seems to have good fortune, despite the situation they are in.

2 Stars
 
Sahana