B
October 2003
SYNOPSIS:
MAINSTREAM FICTION: (2+) Kari Jones
REVIEW: In THIS WAY HOME by Marcia King-Gamble, Liza Hamilton returns to her hometown after a mugging leaves her badly
scarred, both emotionally and physically. As a teen, she had been anxious to leave Syracuse. But after the attack, Liza returns home hoping to
find peace of mind.
Erik Price is a successful artist who cares more about art than money, much to the chagrin of those trying to exploit him for profit and fame.
When Erik arrives to move into the house left to him by the father he never knew, the whole community is abuzz about Malcolm Mitchell’s
gorgeous, successful, illegitimate son.
When Liza and Erik meet, there is an immediate attraction. Just one problem: Liza’s mother was once married to Malcolm. The fact that they are
stepsiblings is repeated throughout the novel as a reason why the two shouldn’t get together. Yet, as Liza and Erik’s relationship deepens,
their familial ties become a non-issue, something with which I had a hard time. Especially when Sara, Liza’s sister (and Erik’s half-sister)
is introduced. It just seemed unnecessary to make them related in any way. I realize that the fight over the house — Liza believes it should
have gone to her mother and sister — is clearly meant to add conflict, but there’s already so much going on between the couple.
Specifically, Liza and Erik are having vivid dreams during which they experience the lives of two slaves. They also feel ghostly presences in
their respective houses. Sam O’Reilly — an old, blind soothsayer — holds the key to their haunting dreams. He tells Liza and Erik they are
“old souls forever bound together.” In fact, Sam tells the couple rather early in the novel why everything is happening, but the two don’t
believe him. Because the reader knows the story, when Liza and Erik do finally “get it,” there aren’t any real revelations — a major
disappointment of the novel.
The back cover of This Way Home gives the impression that the novel is solely about Liza and Erik. However, the book is really about four
women — Liza, Delilah, Cassie, and Rona — and their search for love. As much time is spent on the other three women’s romantic ups and downs
as on Liza and Erik’s storyline. This is unfortunate because Delilah, Cassie, and Rona never emerge as well-rounded characters (and neither do
their love interests). And it’s hard to believe the four women are even friends when three of them gloss over Cassie’s losing battle with
bulimia and focus instead on her new boyfriend. Cassie, Rona, and Delilah could easily have been relegated to a couple of paragraphs or
combined into one character who serves as a real confidant for Liza.
One thought kept running through my mind as I read THIS WAY HOME. I wish the novel truly had been about Liza and Erik only. Given the
space of an entire novel, King-Gamble could have thoroughly explored how the past that haunts Liza and Erik shapes them as lovers in the
present and created a rich, captivating novel.
nathasha@romanceincolor.com (14th October 2003)