The Homemade God: A Novel
With sparkling wit and insight, this “gorgeous . . . page-turner” (People) from the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry reminds us that family is everything, even when it falls apart.
“The beautiful writing, unforgettable characters, and stunning setting make this a must-read.”—Bonnie Garmus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
“It’s all here, dear readers. Art. Beauty. Pain. Redemption. Rachel Joyce’s masterful skill and emotional breadth are dazzling.”—Adriana Trigiani, author of The Good Left Undone
There is a heatwave across Europe, and four siblings have gathered at their family’s lake house to seek answers about their father, a famous artist, who recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his long-awaited masterpiece.
Now he is dead. And there is no sign of his final painting.
As the siblings try to piece together what happened, they spend the summer in a state of lawlessness: living under the same roof for the first time in decades, forced to confront the buried wounds they incurred as his children, and waiting for answers. Though they have always been close, the things they learn that summer—about themselves—and their father—will drive them apart before they can truly understand his legacy. Meanwhile, their stepmother’s enigmatic presence looms over the house. Is she the force that will finally destroy the family for good?
Wonderfully atmospheric, at heart this is a novel about the bonds of siblinghood—what happens when they splinter, and what it might take to reconnect them.
“The beautiful writing, unforgettable characters, and stunning setting make this a must-read.”—Bonnie Garmus, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry
“It’s all here, dear readers. Art. Beauty. Pain. Redemption. Rachel Joyce’s masterful skill and emotional breadth are dazzling.”—Adriana Trigiani, author of The Good Left Undone
There is a heatwave across Europe, and four siblings have gathered at their family’s lake house to seek answers about their father, a famous artist, who recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his long-awaited masterpiece.
Now he is dead. And there is no sign of his final painting.
As the siblings try to piece together what happened, they spend the summer in a state of lawlessness: living under the same roof for the first time in decades, forced to confront the buried wounds they incurred as his children, and waiting for answers. Though they have always been close, the things they learn that summer—about themselves—and their father—will drive them apart before they can truly understand his legacy. Meanwhile, their stepmother’s enigmatic presence looms over the house. Is she the force that will finally destroy the family for good?
Wonderfully atmospheric, at heart this is a novel about the bonds of siblinghood—what happens when they splinter, and what it might take to reconnect them.
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Community Reviews
“Vic Kemp was a self-taught artist. “Homemade” was how he put it. Everything he knew about art he had learned from copying.”
Vic Kemp became a widow when the oldest of four children was seven years old. In the bedlam that followed, the children vied for his attention, learning to measure their self worth based on his need for them. He coped by spending his evenings painting fantasies on canvas and sleeping with a revolving door of au pairs.
Vic’s life took a turn when his drinking buddy, Harry, saw the art Vic was producing. Harry
ran a market selling cheap prints and had a nose for kitsch. He took charge as Vic’s dealer and agent. Sales exploded. Vic rode this wave for three decades until one day the tide ebbed to never return. His ideas went with it, lost at sea. An empty canvas became terrifying, but Vic simply could not paint.
When Vic invited his children to lunch at a noodle bar, it caused a stir of speculation. Even more so when he arrived: his appearance had drastically changed. Vic was gaunt on the one hand and stylishly dressed and groomed on the other. At seventy-six and with such a drastic change in appearance, his children knew they were in store for a dramatic announcement. But they never would have have guessed that Vic would tell them he had met love of his life, Bella-Mae, and planned to marry her. She was twenty-seven years old. Vic wanted his children to travel to their Italian villa to celebrate his next chapter, but the siblings had other ideas.
“If we go out to the lake now, we’ll be playing into his hands. Daddy wants us chasing after him. That is exactly what he wants. To have his cake and eat it. He’s probably bored already and wants a big party. But we’ve spent our lives running after him. This time we have to stop. We can’t drop everything just because he decided to get married without telling us.”
The fine print of their decision meant they would miss Vic and Bella-Mae’s hastily arranged wedding. It also meant the siblings would not be present when their father went for a morning swim and drowned. Their conspiracy to stand their ground against their father gained nothing. It simply wasted their chances to spend time with him on his last days on earth. Bella-Mae’s intentions and the mysterious way he died might never be resolved but try they must. Their days on the island became an unwanted opportunity to assess the unhealthy, codependent relationship each had with their father and, by extension, with one another. His death had shed light on the derelict scaffolding on which they had constructed their sense of purpose. How would they measure their self worth when the person who defined it is no longer alive?
Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group—Random House | Dial Press and NetGalley for providing this eARC. #TheHomemadeGod #NetGalley
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