In creating Ellen Flanagan, the protagonist in House & Home, author Kathleen McCleary introduces readers to a woman that you’ll want to sit down and read more about. Ellen is a creative hard-working woman who puts a bit (sometimes more than a bit!) of herself into everything she does – she loves her children fiercely, is a loyal friend, adorns her successful coffee-shop-turned-home-accessories-shop, Coffee@home, with personal touches, shows her sense of style in the casual yet chic clothes she wears, and until their mounting financial problems came to a head, loved her fun-loving happy-go-lucky husband, Sam, with all her heart. Above all else, Ellen immerses her personality, and her very soul, into her house.
The first paragraph of this gripping emotional novel sets the scene:
The house was yellow, a clapboard Cape Cod with a white picket fence and a big bay window on one side, and Ellen loved it with all her heart. She loved the way the wind from the Gorge stirred the trees to constant motion outside the windows, the cozy arc of the dormers in the girls’ bedrooms, the cherry mantel with the cleanly carved dentil molding over the fireplace in the living room. She had conceived children in that house, suffered a miscarriage in that house, brought her babies home there, argued with her husband there, made love, rejoiced, despaired, sipped tea, and gossiped and sobbed and counseled and blessed her friends there, walked the halls with sick children there, and scrubbed the worn brick of the kitchen floor there at least a thousand times on her hands and knees. And it was because of all this history with the house, all the parts of her life unfolding there day after day for so many years, that Ellen decided to burn it down.
Having reached the end of her patience with her husband Sam and his hare-brained unsuccessful inventions, and their subsequent spiral into financial straits, Ellen decides that she and Sam would be better off living separately. Unable to afford the mortgage on their home of ten years, Ellen and Sam put the house on the market and it soon sold to a young couple who have big plans for renovating and updating the little yellow Cape.
What follows is an emotional journey for Ellen as she sorts out what is really important to her. She learns the importance of friends, the strength of family, and the important distinction between “house” and “home.”
McCleary’s writing style is inviting – she draws the reader in with details that give authenticity to the characters and settings. Describing Ellen’s days at the coffee shop, McCleary notes “the grateful way peopled cradled their cups against their palms.” The Flanagan’s basement is decorated with drawings of turtles created by daughters Sara and a friend for their “turtle club.” Mentions of the local stores, parks and sports teams will connect with those familiar with Portland and its suburbs; she talks of the home buyers’ desire to “trade up” from Beaverton to Portland. The characters are three-dimensional; although Ellen is the one we know the deepest, we also learn what motivates her husband Sam, the buyers Jordan and Jeffrey, and more peripheral characters such as neighbor Joanna and co-worker Cloud.
I enjoyed House & Home, and felt the depth and breadth of Ellen’s emotions as she struggled to let go of her connection to the physical house while sorting out the personal history attached to it. I highly recommend this engaging and well-executed debut novel.
Kathleen McCleary is a reporter and writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping and Health. Visit her official website for more information about the author and her writing. The site has a spot where readers are invited to submit their story about a home they’ve loved (I think this is a great exercise; I’m still recovering from an out-of-state move over a year ago!) This video features the opening paragraph (above), as well as a short conversation with Kathleen, in which she says “… it is the emotional truth in the book that people respond to … the sense of wanting to make a home that feels like home … a universal feeling.” I agree; that is what makes House & Home universally appealing, as well.
Many thanks to TLC Book Tours for asking my to review this book, and to Voice publishers for providing the review copy.
In conjunction with this review and Book Blogger Appreciation Week, I’m offering a House & Home prize package to one lucky reader. The gift pack includes:
- A hardcover of House & Home
- Yankee Candle “Home Sweet Home” votive candle
- Lead crystal candle holder
- “What makes a house a home” gift plaque
- Magnetic memo pad to list your “things to do around the house”
- “Home Sweet Home” embellishment set for scrapbookers and card-makers
- Home card (includes envelope for mailing, or suitable for framing)
To enter, simply leave a comment below, completing this sentence:
Home is …
Entries will be accepted through midnight on September 19, the last day of BBAW. Winning name (random drawing) will be announced on Saturday.
Home is….. wherever you’re happiest.
Great review btw!
Home is where my kids are.
tracisharpton(at)msn(dot)com
This may sound a bit silly, but home is where my fiance is. Never feels right without him any more.
Home is where you can always feel like you and where memories are made.
photoquest(at)bellsouth(dot)net
Home is full of cats. 😀
No need to enter me. I’m just dropping in to say thanks for the e-mail; I’ve got you posted at Win a Book.
Home is where my family is.
What a generous giveaway! I love your review too. Home for me is with my husband and boys. Thanks so much!
bookroomreviews@hotmail.com
Home is where the heart is 🙂
Thank you for such an amazing giveaway. It would go perfectly in my new home.
Ok, I’m romantic…
Home is…whenever or wherever my fiancé hugs me and says ‘I love you’.
avalonne83 [at] yahoo [dot] it
home is where you can walk around without makeup !!
Home is my comforting and loving safe haven.
Home is where I’m drawn to, where my children are, where my husband is, and where I always prefer to be.
Thanks for hosting this giveaway!
Home is where my family is. We move quite a bit, so this is true – I’ve learned to not get attached to a physical building.
Home is truly anyplace you are surrounded by people who love you, and who you love in return. Great contest!
Home is a place where I can go to be with my family away from the stresses of the outside world.
What a great giveaway! Thanks!
Home is … wherever my books are.
Wonderful giveaway! Please enter me.
What a nice giveaway!
Home is what you make of it.
Rather short and to the point but how I feel. LOL.
thereedfamily[at]sbcglobal[dot]net
Home is where you can just be yourself and not be condemned for it.
Home is.. where the heart is (I have a sign that says that) Although I’d have to say Home is… my comfy zone! Its the place where at the end of the day I can say, I’m glad to be home! Its my safety, its my comfort!
Excellent! I added you to my giveaway post for today. 🙂
I’m with amandasue (and lots of others) . . . Home is where the heart is! Don’t you just feel better being there? Great giveaway — thank you!
geebee.reads AT gmail DOT com
… the people who reside in it!
where silence is not golden, but means my kids are headed for trouble. 🙂
Home is . . . where I love being with my family.
Home is my refuge, my safe and loving place.
Thank you!
janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com
Home is where they gotta take you in no matter what you’ve done (or didn’t do that you were supposed to).
Thanks for the giveaway
Home is cluttered with books. I’m hoping that sometime soon “House and Home” will be part of that clutter!
… where my family is.
Dawn, no need to enter me in the giveaway. My TBR pile is just too huge right now.
But I love the package you put together, so nice and so creative.
Also love the review. You really gave a sense of what this book “feels” like.
home is…where three cats meet me at the door purring, the birdfeeder is always empty, my shoes reside under my desk, and the coffee pot is always on.
grace at http://www.facetothesun.com
What a gorgeous gift package! Here is my answer:
Home is … that feeling I get when I know that my family and friends are all safe and happy.
Home is wherever you want it to be 🙂 I moved around a lot as a kid, so thinking of one single place as “home” was always sad when it came time to leave. Then I found that it didn’t matter where you were, it only mattered what you made of it 🙂
[…] She’s Too Fond of Books: Win a House and Home Prize Pack Ends: Sept 19 […]
[…] Kathleen McCleary’s House & Home from She Is Too Fond of Books, deadline 19 September. […]
Home is… where you live, laugh, and love. Pretty simple, isn’t it?
Home is the place where I can laugh, cry, get angry, just be myself – without the judgment of others.
[…] September 15th: She Is Too Fond Of Books **includes a […]
Home is … full of love!
Home is the most comfortable place in the world.
Home is… where you can always find love, support and comfort.
Home is the place you are most yourself.
Home is where my babies are-Jerry, Skittles, Hannah, & Zoe:)
http://julyso4463.blogspot.com/
is where I can cuddle with my husband and my dog, have cats curled at my feet, a good football game on the television for the hubby, and an engrossing read in my hands.
home is a place where I feel love and comfort, for and from my family…not always safe as we have seen with the current hurricanes but the family is there to comfort and provide peace
Home is where family is, where its safe, where you are comfortable and always welcome.
Home is where the heart is. My mom had a plaque hanging in the house that said that.
To me, home is where I am the most comfortable, where I feel the most accepted, where I can go crazy and be a peace all at the same time, and home is where I choose to be whenever I have a choice.
Hone is … anywhere my family is!
brightmyer249(at)hotmail(dot)com
Home is anywhere with my family.
Home is wherever my husband and I are, together.
What a lovely giveaway!
Home is … where they have to take you in!
[…] you” assignment and blogging tips will come over the weekend). On Monday I had a review and giveaway of Kathleen McCleary’s House & Home (enter by midnight tonight!). Tuesday was my interview with Amy and a wonderful guest post by […]
[…] are 44 other submissions, find them here. And if you haven’t yet had a chance to, check out author Kathleen McCleary’s guest […]
Home is….Where ever my family is!
Kimberly
picklechic@hotmail.com