Téo Erskine begrudgingly makes his way home to Enfield once a month to visit his ailing, resentful father, Victor. Whilst there, he reconnects with his circle of old school friends, going through the motions of poker nights and trips to their old local while counting down the hours until he can return to his real life. One night, he finds himself thrown back into the orbit of troubled single mum Lia Woods, the lone girl in their group at school and the woman whom Téo has always fantasised about saving from herself and whisking away to a happily ever after. In an effort to win her favour, Téo gamely offers to look after Lia's young son for the day, only to find that, when she fails to collect two-year-old Joel, he is caught in a web of tangled relationships and histories, binding him tightly to the place he used to call home.

Going Home, the debut novel by Tom Lamont, is a moving, beautiful story of family, fatherhood and friendship, peopled by complex, painfully human characters.

The story is told by four narrators: Téo; his well-intentioned but struggling father, Vic; his childhood best friend, handsome, self-centred Ben; and the progressive new local rabbi, Sybil. Each brings a different perspective on the story, and sheds light on life in the specific setting of a Jewish community in the north London suburb of Enfield.

At the heart of the story is the prickly, fractious relationship between Téo and his father, a thoughtful portrayal of the generation gap which keeps the men at arms length from each other. Vic feels that he was a good father because he provided for his family, even if he wasn't always present or emotionally available; he is of a generation in which men repressed their hurt rather than allowing themselves to feel it, let alone seek help for it. We see this manifested in his inability to accept his growing physical limitations, as well as his refusal to relinquish his independence to his son. Seeing Téo work through his feelings about his father, and find his own way to be a father to Joel, is one of the most affecting parts of the novel.

Going Home is also a refreshingly sensitive, non-judgmental portrait of depression and suicide. Even as they deal with the ramifications of Lia's death, those she left behind have nothing but empathy and compassion for her; they know that the 'choice' she made was the only one she felt was left to her.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

Going Home by Tom Lamont is a moving and occasionally humorous novel about four adults who unexpectedly find themselves caring for a young child. Téo enjoys his life in London but returns to Enfield to visit his ailing father, Vic. There, he reconnects with old friends Ben and Lia. Lia is a struggling single mother raising her son, Joel. When a tragic event thrusts Téo, Vic, Ben, and the local rabbi, Sybil, into the responsibility of caring for Joel, their lives are forever changed. The relationships among these characters and their bond with Joel are portrayed with depth and authenticity, making for a heartwarming and engaging story.

This is an incredibly tender and moving novel with a set of characters whose complexity makes them jump off the page - all are well drawn enough to be incredibly compelling and mostly sympathetic, even when not acting as their best selves. A beautiful story about what we owe to the people in our lives and one which doesn't take the easy way out in terms of plot. Highly recommended and many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Going Home by Tom Lamont is a poignant and, at times, funny novel about four adults who find themselves responsible for a young child.
Téo loves his life in London, he has a good job and his freedom. He goes back occasionally to Enfield to see his elderly sick dad, Vic, which gives him a chance to catch up with old school friends Ben and Lia. Lia, is a struggling single parent raising her son Joel. Ben and Téo are mates but the relationship isn’t always friendly and they sometimes end up fighting. Téo, Vic, Ben and the local rabbi, Sybil lives change when an awful event results in them being responsible for Joel. The relationship between the four characters and Joel is beautifully written and authentic. I thoroughly enjoyed this heart warming story.

'Going Home' is an outstanding debut novel by Tom Lamont - a beautiful, moving, sad and funny novel about four adults who find themselves caring for a young child.

Téo Erskine has escaped the North London suburb of Enfield where he grew up, but still comes back once a month to visiting his father, who is suffering from a degenerative disease. When possible, he tries to see his schoolfriend and long-term crush, Lia, and sometimes helps out by babysitting Lia's two-year-old son Joel. Following a shocking and unexpected event, Téo finds himself responsible for Joel until a more permanent solution is found.

Lamont cycles between four narrative perspectives - Téo, his curmudgeonly father Victor, Téo's privileged and carefree manchild of a friend, Ben Mossam, and the local progressive rabbi Sibyl Challis, who are all drawn into Joel's orbit and respond in different ways: Téo is initially apprehensive and terrified of getting it wrong but determined to do it wrong, while Victor relishes the sense of purpose that caring for Joel gives him in spite of his own failing health, and Ben does his best to shirk any responsibility.

Both the characters (including Joel, who is at the heart of the novel) and the situation are so well-realised that it is impossible for the readers not to become deeply invested in their predicament. The novel explores multiple father-son relationships (both biological and surrogate) and Lamont includes so many incisive observations about these. At one point Victor reflects that 'Joel was the only person in Vic's life who did not hold his age or his illness against him' because 'Joel viewed anybody older, taller, as expert. If you knew where to find the sticking plasters (this was how Joel gauged the world) then you knew everything.' At another point when Téo has had his first experience of separation from Joel, Lamont describes how he resolves to 'observe the boy more carefully this time, revising him and collecting better memories for their next time apart.'

Above all, this book has so much heart. It is one of my favourite books of 2024 so far - many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

It took me a little while to appreciate Tom Lamont's writing style. However the characters he has created in 'Going Home' are wonderfully and warmly drawn. The story woven around them is authentic and brimming with humanity. It is a story of how situations change people and the different ways in which people find their way to doing the right thing. Special thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for a no obligation advance review digital copy.

Tom Lamont’s Going Home didn’t work for me as well as I initially thought it would. It is a good hearted book but I never felt I quite got to grips with the characters, finding Ben’s character arc for instance quite unbelievable. Likewise, Ben and Sybil’s relationship. The child Joel, I believe he would have been much more traumatised by the things he went through- the changes and the disruption. I think those are the things that held me back from loving this book and engaging with it emotionally.

I really wanted to like this book and at the start I did. It was set in a part of London and a community familiar to me, the characters have depth and the crux of the story is interesting and I wanted to find out what happened. However, something about the book just didn't bring it all together for me; it was slow and often laboured the point by talking about the same thing from different character's perspectives rather than letting the reader fill in the gaps. I kept going until I was finding myself avoiding picking up my kindle and when I realised I was only 50% through I had to make a call to take a break - I hope to go back as I would like to see how it all resolved but it just needed to be pacier!

I started this book without reading the blurb and at first it seemed quite alien to me as it was centred around a very Jewish community in north London. But as I continued and became involved in the characters and their lives, the alienness disappeared and it simply became interesting to learn about rabbis and Jewish rituals and they took second place to the brilliantly developing relationship between Teo and Joel. I ended up rooting for both of them and really hoping everything turned out OK in the end.

Teo has done well, is doing well. He has a great job and has moved away from his North London suburb further into London. About once a month he returns to his home, meeting up with a gang of old friends and having a wild night out and spending time with his Dad, Vic. On each visit Teo hopes to catch a glimpse of Lia…The book opens with one of Teo’s regular visits home, a full on night out with his best friend Ben and meeting Lia who asks him to look after her son, Joel. Tragedy leads to Teo taking on the care of Joel…but will this be permanent?

The first thing that you notice about the book is the writing. I have seen it described as stream of consciousness - I don’t see it as that. I think it is original and inventive and I saw it as the writer trying new ways of connecting with the writer and conveying imagery..as such it does take a little while to get into this rhythm but when you do it works well…

I am an older reader and sometimes I struggled to connect with these characters - this book might well do with younger readers. I couldn’t relate to their activities on a Friday night out - that’s maybe because Friday didn’t look like that to me, but I didn’t really connect with why the characters were doing this…I think the characters developed throughout the book, particularly Ben who is self-centred and self-indulgent and simply living out a lifestyle faciltated by rich and loveless parents. Ben benefits undoubtedly with his connection to Joel and to Rabbi Sibyl. I thought the author did the pacing of this change brilliantly.

I enjoyed the relationship between Teo and his Father, Vic. Vic is an interesting character, battling his age and physical and mental fraility and his demons from the past. I loved how he was trying to get involved in Joel’s life and save him from the damage he had experienced in his own.

I think that there is a big and tender story at the heart of this novel which doesn’t quite work for me. This has something to do with the characters who didn’t really engage me. I would like to have seen and understood more of Lia in the opening chapters before Joel is handed over and to have been able to understand more of why Joel ended up holding the baby!

With many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder and Stoughton for my digital copy of this book.

I liked this. A tender and quite moving read at times and it made me smile at others and I enjoyed the vivid London descriptions.

Something held me back from fully loving it, I don't know, I felt like I was being kept at arms length from some of the characters. It potentially could be me , my mood when reading as this has everything I usually love in a book but something stopped me from connecting fully with this one.

I think this book will be widely read and loved by many. Maybe I will give it a second read at another stage.

3- 3.5 stars.

Poignant, touching and thought provoking. A novel about life, relationships told by 4 different POVs.
I loved it and I will surely read it again.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Debut novel from Guardian journalist Tom Lamont has moments of humour, sad moments and family interactions. Teo, Ben and Vic are the central characters who are not equipped to look after Joel. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

This book - by a some time Guardian writer - featured in the 2024 version of the influential and frequently literary-prize-prescient annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (last year included Tom Crewe. Michael Magee and Jacqueline Crooks – and previous years have featured Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney, Rebecca Watson, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, JR Thorp Bonnie Garmus, Gail Honeyman among many others).

A story of three men and a woman: Téo (who had moved to London/Aldgate as a speed awareness course instructor but finds himself drawn back by circumstance to an Enfield home town he had outgrown); Victor (his rapidly ageing father living still in their family flat and missing a sense of purpose in his life); Ben (centre of the circle of Téo's old school friends - superficially successful living in his living-abroad parents near-mansion and running a casino) and the new (and female) local Rabbi Sibyl.

They are drawn together when the early death of Lia (a girl Téo had always been drawn to) succumbs to her lifelong struggle with depression and they find themselves looking after her 2 year old toddler Joel - something which causes them all to examine their past lives and future plans (with Sibyl's presence causing Jewish faith to be part of their examinations)

The author is a recent father himself - and his attempts to capture the voice of a 2 year old boy seem consequently authentic - although I think the heavy amounts of toddler speak may not be to everyone's taste.

The book also I think has heavy roots in the complexities of male mates (with its mix of friendship and rivalry; an outward banter/posturing which often reflects a lack of inner self-confidence): again this seems convincingly done if not entirely to my taste.

Overall though this is a warm-hearted and tender novel.

An emotional read where you sympathise with Teo unexpectedly finding himself responsible for the care of two year old Joel. He gradually involves Ben who is Joel's actual father. The ending is quite tear inducing when Joel really shows his appreciation for all Teo' s efforts.

A touching debut that has much to say about masculinity and fatherhood, with its three generations all carefully and thoughtfully rendered that's sure to connect with the wide audience it deserves.

This is beautifully written and moving storytelling from Tom Lamont that explores the complexities and flaws of human nature with the authentic characters he creates and skilfully develops as life throws them curve balls they do not see coming. In his thirties, there is Teo Erskine's tricky relationship with his elderly father, Vic, as he returns outwardly improved circumstances, but his inner terrain is littered with issues and needs from when he was young, staying away from any demands that might tie him down. There is Teo's friendship with Ben Mossam, Ben has feelings for Lia Woods, who has no room for him, she is drowning, she is a single mom to toddler, Joel, and it is an understatement to say that she is not coping.

Coming from 4 different perspectives, that of Teo, Ben, Vic, and Rabbi Sybil, troubled by how her faith seems to be slipping away from her, their lives converge more closely together as they try to handle their surprising new responsibilities for Joel. Lamont astutely observes and artfully captures the dynamics of male friendship and evolving relationships, a father that is dying, he writes with humanity and compassion of love, loss, responsibilities, and what constitutes family. Joel himself is a wonderful warm spring of fun and comic humour and love, the central focus, but can those around him overcome their obstacles and challenges and provide him with a real home, 'parents', and family?

This is a superb, delightfully touching, and emotional read with its distinctly different cast of characters that soon caught my attention and who I became invested in and I think many other readers will enjoy this too. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

I found it very difficult to connect with this book. I couldn’t get a handle on any of the characters, except perhaps toddler Joel. I found the stream- of- consciousness style of writing jarring, whilst Teo and Ben seemed to switch back and forward at every meeting from being responsible adults, caring for Joel, to jousting, arguing, and going into a huff like 13 year old boys. The character Sybil, the local rabbi who becomes involved in overseeing Joel’s care, is yet another angst-ridden individual, struggling with her faith.
I persevered till 25% until I conceded that this book is not for me sadly.
I know that many other readers will enjoy it, and urge you to read it for yourself.
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my advance copy of this book.

This book has a curious underlying comedic tone, though it is mostly tender and bittersweet. That this was set in North London was interesting. It was also worthy to see the inner lives and growth of men, who learn to take more responsibility and charge thanks to unconditional love. The writer is very skilled and this does not read like a debut.

Think Three Men and a Baby, but told in a literary, almost stream-of-conscious style from the viewpoints of three men left to bring up a little boy after his mother commits suicide. We also hear from the local rabbi, keeping an eye on the care they’re giving. The challenges facing the four characters become existential as they ponder their own past actions, grief, relationships and places in the world.
With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.