The Road Home (novel)

The Road Home is a 2008 novel by Rose Tremain.

Plot summary

The story has to do with Lev who is a middle-aged immigrant and widowed. He leaves a Russian village when the sawmill closes. Soon after, he travels to London to find work so he can make money that he can send to his mother, his daughter that is 5 years old, and his best friend. Ahmed gives him his first job, at a Muslim kebab-shop. Lev also meets a divorced Irish plumber named Christy, a young chef named Sophie, and a rich old woman named Ruby.

Reception

Liesl Schillinger, of The New York Times, reviewed the book saying, "A less disciplined and agile author might have been tempted to ease Lev’s transition from daydreamer to doer. Or she might have jollied Lev into a toque at London’s River Café and set Rudi up as a chauffeur on Belisha Road. But Rose Tremain is in the business of inventing not so much fantasies as alternate realities. In “The Road Home,” she lets Lev in on her secret: “Don’t think about Auror down there in the darkness. Don’t think about the past.” The present is also a work of imagination".

References