The Homecoming-Preeti Shenoy

Book: The Homecoming
Author: Preeti Shenoy
Publisher: HarperCollins India

I was provided a media copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

What happens when the past unravels and threatens to spill over onto your present?

When the past unravels, is love enough to hold the future together? To the world, Alka’s life is picture-perfect—she lives a charmed existence in a beautiful heritage bungalow on her husband Subbu’s coffee estate with their two lovely daughters. But when disaster strikes after Subbu’s near-fatal accident, buried secrets begin to surface, ripping apart the veneer of perfection. Even as Alka struggles to care for her husband and revive the fortunes of the failing estate, she is faced with an agonizing choice: fight for her strained marriage or give in to the long dormant love she feels for her brother-in-law, Krish. Can Alka’s marriage survive the weight of deception? Or will a forbidden love damage hearts and destroy lives? A moving continuation of the story that began in Preeti Shenoy’s bestselling novel A Place Called Home, The Homecoming draws readers into a deep exploration of love, betrayal, and the dangerous secrets we keep from ourselves and the world.

While The Homecoming is a sequel to A Place Called Home, Preeti explores different yet important aspect of relationships in this book as compared to the first book. Through this book, Preeti brings to light the importance of love in our lives, and a pertinent question about marriage, social norms and the very definition of a life partner in the truest sense of the word. What I really liked about the book that the writing is simple, but at times makes you ponder upon our definitions of love and relationships. Throughout the book, we see various situations that question the traditional idea of partners and it is through these moments that the core idea of the book shines through. I loved the fact that there is no judgement in the book and it is the story of primarily four people who are stuck in this conventional mould that society expects them to conform to, but somehow, they break out of it. The secrets unfold slowly and as each layer opens, as a reader, even you are forced to think of what would you have done if you would have been either in the place of Alka or Subbu or Chanda. The way each page brings a completely different perspective to the events is something I have always admired in Preeti’s writing, and same thing happens here as well. The idea that a person central to the lives of these 3 people is struggling between life and death, and yet each of them must manage their own lives and its entanglement with each other was complicated, but adds to the charm of the storyline.

The conversations between the characters are wonderfully crafted and the dialogues sometimes raise pertinent questions, but then also highlight that there are somethings that cannot be looked at from a practical sense. Alka’s transformation across the book was a sight to behold and I was amazed at the depth of character development, so much so that even the minutest of details have not been spared. The conversations between Alka and Muthu especially were the highlight for me, specifically when Muthu’s perspective is shown. Krish as a character did impress me again and the way he succumbs to love towards the end was heartwarming. What was the highlight for me in this book, however, was Chanda and entire conversation that happens between her and Alka. The way in which her character is created is something I truly loved and the dynamics between her and Alka took the story for me in the second half.

I have always appreciated Preeti’s attention to detail in the stories she writes, and there is this scene when Muthu meets Subbu, and while saying anything more would reveal a lot, I was touched by the way it plays out. When you are engrossed in the book, that scene has the power to bring back memories of something you love from the deepest recesses of your heart, and it was then I realised that the title of the book made sense in more ways than one. For Alka, Subbu, Krish and Chanda, each of them found a way back to their home, and as always, home might not always be a place, but with the people who matters the most to us.

So, while there are themes of love, betrayal, forbidden love and deception in the book, there is an honesty to the love that exists between people, and it is to explore that raw emotion that I highly recommend this book. The Homecoming comes home with a perfect 5 for me.

Get a copy of the book on Amazon India or your nearest bookstore!

Read my review of the prequel: A Place Called Home