Christmas Eve, 1959. On his way home, small-town local Percy Summers stops to let his horse cool down in their favorite swimming hole. Before he can reach the water, he spots the Turner family having a picnic. But neither Isabel nor her three children are moving. It’s as if he caught them sleeping. A horrified Percy rushes to summon the police, setting in motion the biggest criminal investigation in South Australia. The ultimate ruling on the case devastates multiple families and cloaks the small town in long-kept secrets.

"HOMECOMING challenges readers to figure out who was involved in the deaths of four people. And it goes beyond that: Would you have done the same? Would you forgive? Would you understand? Once again, Morton proves why she’s hailed as one of the best."

In 2018, a young journalist in London named Jess Turner-Bridges receives a call that no one ever wants to get. Jess’ beloved grandmother, Nora, has taken a fall that has landed her in the hospital. The outlook is dire; the doctor says she may not recover. Jess catches the earliest plane to Sydney that she can arrange, arriving exhausted and worried. Nora isn’t just her grandmother; she’s like her mother, having mostly raised her. To have anything happen to her is unthinkable. Why was she climbing those steep stairs to the attic anyway? She always warned they were too dangerous. Jess will explore the answer to that later. For now, she needs to see her.

At the hospital, the sight of Nora utterly shocks Jess. True, she has been away living in London for the past decade, but can this shrunken waif actually be her grandmother? When Jess left, Nora was a strong, vibrant soul. This person before her looks very weak, not at all like the woman Jess recalls. With tubes running into her and meds being pumped in, the old lady fades in and out of wakefulness. And when she does speak, it mostly doesn’t make sense. But one or two of the utterances grip Jess. What did she mean? Was it the drugs talking, was it delirium, or was it an actual fear straight out of Nora’s past?

Naturally, Jess is staying at her childhood home, Darling House, which is where her grandmother lives. With limited visiting hours at the hospital, Jess occupies her time rattling around Darling House and reminiscing. Being a book lover, she is drawn in by Nora’s shelves. As she looks over the titles, one volume in particular catches her attention. It’s written by another journalist, and it covers the 1959 tragedy of the Turner family. Intrigued, Jess pulls it down and thumbs through it, only to discover a connection to her family. The more she reads, the more questions crowd her head. Why didn’t her grandmother (or her mother, for that matter) ever tell her about this? Jess feels betrayed, hurt and more than a little angry. She had a right to know. And she wants answers.

With the sad turn that events have taken, Jess’ mother, Polly, arrives at Darling House. It’s not that mother and daughter are estranged; they just have an awkward relationship. There is much that played into that and much to be worked out. Well, there’s no better time than the present. The story goes on from there, with the two women sometimes in their own worlds and sometimes joining together to figure out what happened back on that fateful Christmas Eve. So many questions need to be answered about who had a hand in the tragedy. Have the townspeople had it wrong all this time?

Kate Morton sets a scene like no other writer in modern literature. Readers can feel the heat of that Christmas Eve, smell the outdoors and see the ants at the picnic --- on the motionless bodies. Every time Morton brings us into a town, a house or a store, it’s as if we’re there. We know the curve of the streets, the design of the wallpaper and what’s on the counter. Reading a Kate Morton novel is more than a delight; it’s a whole-senses experience.

HOMECOMING challenges readers to figure out who was involved in the deaths of four people. And it goes beyond that: Would you have done the same? Would you forgive? Would you understand? Once again, Morton proves why she’s hailed as one of the best.