28th April, 2025 in Recommended Reads

True Home by Janet Clare

“She loved her mother, but she didn’t want to be like her, and she wondered if there was a way to pick out the parts she admired—her mother’s capacity for joy, her generosity, grace, and deep-down loyalty to her daughter.” The novel, True Home, by Janet Clare, explores the nature, impact, and ongoing complexity of relationships, centrally focused on the mother/daughter relationship between Christina and Swanee Burrows. The novel delves into the fallout of scandal from their respective husband/father’s actions, and their hectic albeit understandable reactions to the collapse of their family. As Christina attempts to find comfort with her first husband, Colin, ignoring the prior hurt of her sudden departure, Swanee seeks any escape from the parents she cannot seem to rely upon. True Home skillfully explores the extent we may go to leave our pain behind, and the resolve we discover when we confront these burdens.