Already a fan of Rachel Joyce I jumped at the chance to read this book when offered an ARC (Thank you Netgalley). It didn't disappoint. Rather different to the Harold Fry/Queenie books with a greater element of mystery - for a long time the underpinning question for me was very much why did Vic Kemp suddenly stop seeing his children, move to the family holiday home in Italy and marry his young wife shortly before his demise? The slow unravelling of the supposedly tightknit family whilst in Italy was painful but all to believable. This was a book that I really enjoyed and kept me engaged until the end.

This is essentially the story of siblings & the relationship that they have with each other & with their father. Beautifully written, I felt like I knew each character intimately, and my heart hurt for all of them. Just lovely.

The novel is essentially about a dysfunctional family, focused on their patriarchal artist father whom weaves a string of controlling ties between all siblings. Everything is set off kilter when their elderly, successful ‘artist’ of a father meets, and then swiftly marries, a young woman, also an artist - and the obvious familial concerns that stem from this swift and questionable relationship.
The story is told largely in dialogue between the siblings and I think this format sadly added to the lack of character depth, and they all remained incredibly one or two dimensional at the most. There was also very little sense of time and place throughout. None of the characters had particularly likeable features, apart from perhaps Gustav/ Goose - and this was very unhelpful from a reader’s point of view, as I had very little positive feelings towards them and certainly couldn’t relate to the shenanigans.
Goodness, I didn’t think I’ve ever written such a scathing review. Not all novels are for everyone, that’s for sure, but I’m gutted that an author whom I’ve previously loved, so so much, could have penned this. I’ve held off reading other people’s reviews and will be interested in how other people have found it (perhaps it’s just me?), but I honestly can’t believe this was written by the same author as Miss Benson’s Beetle and the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It took herculean effort to continue to read this right until the final pages; if it wasn’t by Rachel Joyce, I most certainly would have given up at 30% when I realised it simply wasn’t going anywhere. Sorry, Rachel Joyce!

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

The Homemade God - Rachel Joyce to be published 17 April 2025

This is the story of the four Kemp siblings and life with their flamboyant chaotic artist father. When their father Vic decides to marry the much younger Bella - Mae, this decision has devastating implications on the whole family dynamics when the siblings troop off to Lake Orta in Italy to meet up with their father and his new wife.

A beautifully written story focusing on love and grief and in particular how one person's jealousy can destroy the hope and passion in another. Goose was one of my favourite characters.

This was for me a more complex novel than some of her others (all of which I thoroughly enjoyed as well). This may not be a favourite of all her fans but it is certainly going to be one of mine.

Thank you to Netgalley for a pre publication copy.

I always look forward to reading a novel by Rachel Joyce because you just don’t know what to expect. All her books are so different from the one before, but all excellent. A dysfunctional family and the drama that follows the death of the patriarch. It keeps you guessing. Love her books and I loved this one.

This book is about family relationships, how they are forged and how they determine our place in a family set-up – a place that should make us feel secure and that rarely gets questioned.

When Vic Kemp, father of his adult children Netta, Susan, Goose and Ivis meets the love of his life and announces rather unceremoniously and without consultation that he will marry her, the foundations of their family life begin to show the firsts cracks. When after 46 days of married life his body is discovered on the shore of Lake Orta, near their family’s holiday villa, the cracks deepen. It brakes apart when they eventually meet Bella Mae, their dad’s new wife, distrusted by them and perceived as an unwelcome intruder. She disrupts their fragile unity and subtlety questions the role all of them play within their family – roles that more or less had been allocated to them by their now dead father to whom they had always wanted to live up to.

Their father’s death has upset the apple cart and Bella opens their eyes to face who they really are. Now free to grow into the people they can and want to be, and without the pressure of having to fulfil dad’s expectations, the siblings’ relationships change beyond recognition, almost beyond reconciliation. But only almost.

They recognise that their father was also not the person they had wanted him to be, they had created this invincible man and great artist that he never was. They came to realise that in the end his god-like status did not really matter. What remained was love.
An interesting read with threads of a murder mystery thrown in. I quite liked it.

I am grateful to NetGalley and Transworld Publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Artist, Vic Kemp, has four adult children, Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris. His wife, the mother of his four children, died when Iris was little.

When he announces he has married Bella-Mae, his children are horrified to find out that she is only twenty-seven. Vic is seventy-six, so just what is going on & what is Bella-Mae really after?

When Vic dies in Italy, a few weeks after the wedding, his children go over to sort out his estate and to finally meet Bella-Mae.

This was a family based story with interesting characters.

I did struggle to focus at times as the story was sometimes quite slow.

Overall though, it was an enjoyable and emotional tale.

This is such a strong literary book exploring dysfunctional family dynamics and intertwined relationships. A masterpiece of a book, the talent shines through. I did enjoy the read but found little to like in any of the characters so I did not really connect with them.

This book is the beautiful, painful, joyous, anguish and love of being part of a family.

Vic Kemp is larger than life, booming, tall, artistic and he is a father, who somehow holds his family of 3 girls and a 1 boy together after their mother passed away when Netta, the oldest was 7 and Iris, the youngest was still a baby. Was he in anyway qualified for the assignment, probably not.

Vic is a womaniser, a drinker, selfish and he sets his children to spin, like little planets around him. He favours all the girls in different ways, which gives each their place, but causes underling currents between them throughout their entire lives. With Gustav (Goose) his son, he seems on unsteady ground as a child, but he loves them all, and they know his faults, but still adore him. As they grow, they are as much his children as necessary parts of his life structure, of which he remains central.

Joyce weaves the complexity of the past and the present and the consequences of removing the linchpin around which a family is constructed. The children, believe they are grown, they each have their own lives, but ultimately they operate within the roles they have always held from when they were little. And on hearing of their father's death in mysterious circumstances on the island where they used to have family holidays they each return to to Lake Orta to bring his body home.

However, there are complications. Vic was in love, he'd met a woman, Bella-Mae, a 27 year old artist, of whom they never meet and then takes her to the island in the middle of the lake, and marries her. He talks of his new masterpiece, a great canvas, his finest work. The children, are confused, their father is no longer drunk, is looking fitter and healthier, so when he suddenly dies swimming in the lake (when he is the strongest swimmer they know), nothing makes sense.

This is a magnificent tale. Joyce pulls apart every ounce of what it is to be a family. From the pedestal on which we place a parent, to the reflections of personality traits in a child, and the different shades these same traits take in siblings. To stand together and to stand apart. The closeness and the staggering distance between each one. This quote could equally be a self reflection on how Rachel Joyce, after tenderly creating and defining the characters, tests and torments them.

'She puts her finger inside the cracks just to test how deep they really go. She is an artist, after all: she can't help it.'

It is a fantastic book, I loved the simplicity and joy of Harold Fry, which is echoed in this book. However Joyce amplifies her skill in this one, and the observations of family connections, character and feeling are expansive. It is insightful, hopeful, and yet still holds a story full of its own twists and turns.

A new favourite! I sincerely hope this makes the Man Booker Longlist. Thank you so much Transworld & NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book. I will also be recommending this book on my Blog closer to the release date and will pop the link in when done.

A family of four are devastated when their elderly father Vic, declares his intention to marry his 27-year-old lover, Bella-Mae, and decamps with her to his Italian home to complete his latest artistic masterpeice. Who wouldn't be suspicious of Bella-Mae's motives? Netta, Goose, Susan and Iris haven't even met her! But when tragedy strikes, and the grown-up offspring head out to Italy to confront her, they end up confronting their own lives, too - all tangled together and shaped by their all-powerful father. But will this home-made God turn out to have feet of clay?
This was a brilliant exploration of family ties. and all the complications that ensue from them. The adult children's relationship with their father over the years is explored in great detail, but so, too, is their complicated sibling relationship. They're close, but tensions and petty jealousies simmer beneath the surface in this emotionally-rich book.
There's angst and sorrow and loss here, but also humour, compassion, love - and lust! And there are some very unexpected developments in a story that at first glance seems to star a doting old man and a gold digger.
There's an element of surprise on every page, and this, along with the beautifully-developed characters and the gorgeous Italian background, described so beautifully, makes this a stunningly good book.

An interesting insight into family dynamics.
Independent artist Vic Kemp dies in somewhat suspicious circumstances.. his offspring, Netta, Susan, Goose and Iris must now learn to live without him but with his new wife of only six weeks who they have never met.
An enjoyable read into sibling relationship.
Rachel Joyce writes in a style which is easy to read yet full of emotion and drama..
There is so much to this engaging story.

Following the death of their father, four siblings travel to their villa in Italy to claim their father’s body and confront his young wife of only six weeks (who the siblings had not even met yet) over his suspicious death. What a great premise for a story. The siblings are close, or they appear to be, their lives closely entwined and all living somewhat under the shadow of their famous artist father, Vic. When Vic dies fractures in their own lives and in the relationship between them begin to appear. This was very cleverly done and I was absorbed in the story from beginning to end. The only downside was that I didn’t particularly warm to any of the characters. The family was dysfunctional, partially as a result of the behaviour of their father but I found it difficult to summon much sympathy for any of them.

Four siblings meet at a noodle bar with their artist father, VIc. He reveals that he has met a young artist online and is in love. He has undergone a physical transformation and they are all wondering who the mysterious Bella Mae is.

He goes to their family villa on an Italian Lake and marries there, but they are ignorant of this until after they receive a phone call telling them that he has died. The four siblings then travel to Italy and grief splinters and fractures their relationships. Who is this Bella Mae and did their dad really break a lifetime habit to go swimming on the lake in the mist? Where is his final painting?

Each sibling has their own struggles with grief. Netta , a high powered lawyer takes action to order an autopsy and can't stop asking questions. Susan gets involved with Bella Mae's "cousin" , Iris is the youngest and often ignored or envied because she is the only sibling painted by their father. Goose (Gustav) has his own particular artistic questions.

There is a gradual, suspenseful build up to the first appearance of Bella Mae and the reader has their own questions. She has distinct and discrete relationships with each sibling which leads to many threads. There's
1. Each character's relationship with their father
2.Each person's grief
3.Each person's relationship with Bella Mae
4 Each person's relationships with each of their siblings.

As always, Joyce is psychologically acute and empathetic.. She really understands how grief can implode everything and test established relationships and patterns of behaviour. within families. She is a great example of "show not tell" and showing the deepest truth of someone underneath the versions of self they present to the world.

Her dialogue is spot on- she has a background of acting and writing radio dramas. I can see this book being a great TV mini series.

Although their is a disclaimer about the characters being fictional Vic did remind me of Jack Vettriano, who died just as I was finishing this book- a bit spooky???

Another empathetic page-turner from the most understanding of authors.

I loved this emotional family saga of an artist and his 4 grown up children. It reminded me of Eve Chase's The Birdcage.
Vic is widowed young and sleeps with a series of au pairs who raise his children while he creates popular art. As adults they become concerned that his new muse Bella-Mae is a gold digger. A series of emotional unfortunate events fractures the family and we find out what was really going on in everyone's lives. Very long but superb characters especially Susan and Goose.

For me, 'The Homemade God' feels a bit of a departure for Rachel Joyce. Previous titles that I've read have been cozy reads, with heartwarming characters. In this novel, the characters are all flawed and this reads much more like literary, rather than contemporary fiction, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

In it, four siblings, Goose, Iris, Susan and Netta are forced to confront who they are, who they are in relation to their siblings, and who they were forced to be by their father: Vic Kemp - an artist famous for producing pictures with a sexual theme. Following his death, the siblings fly to their holiday home on an Italian Island to try to make sense of his death, and how his young wife : Bella Mae, fits into the picture. Gradually, things unravel, causing big rifts to open up and suspicion to be rife.

Joyce is a good writer and this novel was very evocative and enjoyable. Events at the end of the novel did feel like they could have happened earlier and be given more breath, but the conclusions were satisfying. This novel reminded me Sarah Winman's 'Still Life' and would appeal to a similar audience. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read.

It’s brilliantly written and extremely clever.
The first words I thought of were ‘jarring and edgy’ but the more I read, I realised that it is quite beautiful.
Four siblings more or less brought themselves up after their mother died when they were young and their father was a controversial artist.
All four of them are incredibly close and fiercely protective of their father, that is until Bella-Mae appears on the scene.
But be careful! Remember that there’s always two sides to every story.
This is not what I was expecting, it was so much more.

I really liked this book.
The Homemade God is Vic Kemp a famous painter who paints scantily clad women in humorous situations.
He is just as dependent on his children as they are upon him.
This family balance often leads to farcical situations, sometimes to desperate situations.
When Vic dies the balance becomes unsteady due to the untethering of the relationships.
There is just the correct balance of humour and serious writing.
The characters were interesting if not wholly pleasant.
The settings changed, but the main setting was besides a beautiful lake in Italy, how can you go wrong with that.
My thanks to the author for the hours of enjoyment that the book has brought me, I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was interested in the basic story behind this book. Widowed father marries a very much younger woman and dies very soon after. The children suspect foul play. I found the beginning to be very slow and my interest waned. I can’t say that I really enjoyed this book and I began to skip through to the end. It is far too slow in parts and too long in general and I did not like the characters. All in all I was slightly disappointed.
Thank you to NetGalley and Random House UK for the advance copy of this book.

Not quite what I was expecting from a Rachel Joyce - this isn't the usual comfy, cosy read that I was expecting but much more deep and detailed.

This is the story of a group of siblings, Goose, and his sisters Netta, Susan and Iris, and their relationship with their once celebrated artist father.

Their father has recently married, a much younger lady, Bella Mae, who is enigmatic and is assumed to be a money grabber. With the sudden death of their father, the siblings travel to Italy to finally encounter Bella Mae properly and assess her motives.

Took me a while to get into, as it wasn't what I was expecting, but a good story nonetheless.

Four siblings—Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris—are the main characters of this novel. They were 'raised' by their father, a famous artist with dubious fame and competence but a larger-than-life personality, after losing their mother while they were little. The four kids compete for his love, affection, and attention. This is yet another outstanding work by Rachel Joyce, who is among the best writers in terms of her ability to swiftly and profoundly create characters. I haven't read a book as brilliant, or poignant as The Homemade God in a long time.