I really enjoyed this story which was divided into the current day setting and 1959 when a family tragedy occurred. It kept me engaged to the end and I didn't see the twists coming. Great read.

I was gripped by this book from the first page to the last and read it very quickly. It follows Kate Morton’s now familiar style of narration alternating between events in the past and the present day. In 1959, in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, a terrible tragedy befalls an entire family, shocking the small local community. In 2018, Jess, living in London, receives a call telling her that her beloved grandmother Nora has had a fall and is in hospital. Jess flies to Sydney, to find that Nora’s condition is much worse than she expected and conversation is impossible. A few muttered words make her think something is preying on Nora’s mind and, using her journalistic experience and the internet, she starts investigating.

Nothing could have prepared Jess for the discovery that the 1959 tragedy involved members of her own family whom she’s never heard of. By the end of the book, she has to question everything she’s ever believed about Nora and about her own mother, Polly. This is because the whole saga is based on lies. Just as you think one mystery has been solved, another clue appears and with it, yet another mystery. Just about every character has lied, either in 1959 or over the years. It turns out that Polly knew some of the story but has been told she must never tell Jess. Polly is almost the missing person in this story as, after she was ten, Jess was brought up by Nora. Polly became my favourite character. We do finally get at the truth and I had trouble believing that Jess and Polly could cope with it. Luckily, they are tough. A brilliant read if you enjoy a good story and a long book. I’m now longing to discuss the book but as I read it thanks to NetGalley and it’s not out until 13th April, I can’t! I hope people will read it and share their thoughts.

A cracking read. Really enjoy Kate Morton's books they have such a lot of depth to them .When Jess a journalist gets a call to return to Australia as her Grandmother Nora is in hospital after an accident but she has no idea of the story she is about to uncover. As she learns of the tragic events some sixty years earlier where a family where all found dead and a baby missing she tries to put together the facts and the connections to her own family. A story that grips you from the beginning and leaves you wanting to know more even though I guessed some of it early on it did not take away any enjoyment from the story. A must read for fans of this author and it does not disappoint

Kate Morton’s previous books I have loved and this is just as good but I found the beginning a bit long winded and guessed some of the mystery quite early in the book. It also felt a little disjointed and clunky but aside from all that I couldn’t put it down which to me is always a sign of a good book !#Homecoming #NetGalley

I did enjoy this book but there were a lot if narratives going on together.
It is set in Australia and centres around a mysterious family death in 1959.
It glides seamlessly between then and now and has plenty if twists and turns.
Perfect for fans of Rachel hore judith lennox and of course Kate Mortons previous novels.

A beautifully told novel jumping between tragic events befalling a family in rural Australia in 1959, and a young relative - Jess - looking for the truth about them in 2018.
Jess - living in London -comes back to Australia when her aunt falls ill and starts to uncover the family secrets.
The story plays out at an unhurried pace - it’s a longish novel too - and you really feel you get to know the characters.
There are plenty of twists and turns as well and this kept me guessing until the last page.
Part murder-mystery, part family saga, I really enjoyed this and would thoroughly recommend it.

This book is a brilliant read. I was so excited to get it that I had to start it immediately and it was perfect for over the Christmas break. I could barely put it down. The characters are so well written - all different, distinctive and believable. None are perfect, most have secrets. The story itself is really engrossing. It's one of those books where the reader can often see what's happening before the characters so it was delightfully frustrating at times - the fact that I was reading on kindle was the only thing stopping me flicking ahead to see if they'd ever figure it out! Polly's story (some of it - one bit did surprise me!) and the method of poison used were examples of this but discovering how the truth emerges was still really compelling. The setting also deserves a mention. It is so foreign to me but was so alive and vibrant and colourful and noisy that I was transported to summertime, sweltering Australia, far from a damp Irish winter. I loved everything about this book and am only sorry I've finished it now!

Kate Morton writes some of the most lyrical and wonderful books. I think this might be her best yet.

No plot spoilers but just to say that the twists and turns are well worth it and the atmosphere and characters are some of the most detailed and complex I have read. I loved the feeling of being in this book and of being with the characters as they went about their daily lives. The delivery man finds a scene of tragedy and then the novel flips back and forth until the mystery, the full mystery if revealed and solved at the end.

Dual time line as is Kate's signature style and I loved it. Recommended!

This is a compelling and addictive read following three generations of women as they unravel a murder that occurred nearly 60 years prior. It’s an interesting look at family and identity and family saga mixed with an intriguing murder mystery plot. It’s quite a long book but it’s definitely worth it. I felt we got a lot of background and information about all the characters and the setting that really brought this story to life. It is absolutely beautifully written and I will definitely be picking up more books by Kate Morton.

Homecoming is an involving family drama from the ever-reliable Kate Morton.
In 2018 young Australian woman Jess receives a call that her beloved Grandmother Nora has had a bad fall and is in hospital back home in Sydney. Brought up by Nora after mother Polly seemingly abandoned her at the age of 10 Jess flies back and on trying to discover the circumstances of the elderly lady's fall finds a True Crime book about the mysterious deaths of members of her extended family in the remote Adelaide Hills in 1959.
Gripped by the mystery,events that Nora had never mentioned to her,Jess investigates and unearths long held secrets that turn everything she thought she knew upside down.
The story is told in 2 timelines,with tragic events in the small town of Tumbilla unfolding in 1959 and Jess's investigation nearly 60 years later in the Sydney house she shared with Nora from the age of 10

This is an immersive book that is initially a bit confusing as various characters from different eras and locations are introduced but things soon fall into place. It's quite slow-paced which might not appeal to some but those who appreciate good writing over brevity will love it as ,like James Lee Burke,Kate Morton paints word pictures of her locations.
There sometimes seems almost too much detail but as the tale goes on very often those seemingly small details prove to be key to the story. That story does get involved and while I'd guessed a major twist early on the mystery twists and turns towards the end with Red Herring galore that i'd love to be able I saw through....but I'd be lying.
This is a book for those who like to savour good writing and enjoy finding small clues that might just be the key to the plot....or they might not.......and many of the characters are far from what they first appear to be.

An excellent,well-crafted and involving book.

First of all thanks to NetGalley for sending me this excellent novel. It is a gem of a book, a Pandora’s Box of a story and a multi layered thought provoking novel. It begins with a very ordered 1950s Southern Australian world that quickly becomes disordered. It is comforting that when the books secrets are finally unravelled and mysteries are resolved in that finally ‘order is restored in a disordered world’. The novel opens with a lunch party planned for Christmas at thirty eight year old Isobel Turner’s lovely property, hers and husband Thomas’s grand house. All is well in Isobel’s world but is it? . On Christmas Eve she insists her three children and baby are part of a family picnic. Meanwhile we are introduced to other key characters, in particular Percy, his wife Meg and two sons. It is Percy who first discovered the tableau that is to become the book’s core mystery. ‘The Sleeping children , he remembered thinking, looked like the etchings in his mother’s precious family Bible….’ In 2019 Jess knowing nothing about the Christmas Eve that took the children and their mother as well as a missing baby, visits her ailing grandmother in Australia. It’s then that she and the reader gradually discover her family’s secrets and deep unresolved mysteries. This is a heartbreaking, beautifully written and superbly constructed novel, both past and present. It is one I shall re read and I believe it is Kate Morton’s best novel since she wrote ‘The House at Riverton’. It keeps you guessing and is a novel bursting with beautiful prose, characters that grow and change as the story reveals itself and superb mastery of atmosphere.

True to form, this new novel by the hugely talented Ms Morton was an outstanding read. Loved every minute.

Homecoming is another fantastic novel from Kate Morton. Despite being 656 pages long, I devoured it and despite knowing all was not as it seemed, I couldn’t quite work out all the twists. The ending will definitely satisfy the most critical of readers.
This is a duel time novel set in Australia from 1956, and present day UK and Australia. Jess is a journalist based in London, but flies home to Australia after receiving news about her grandmother Nora. During her time there she unearths a tragic story about her family that was kept secret from her. The novel moves back to Christmas Eve 1956 where the tragedy occurs and we are introduced a much younger Nora and her brother’s family.
I would highly recommend any Kate Morton book, but this was definitely one of the best. The characters are fascinating and while the descriptions are elaborate and detailed they are all relevant to the overall plot and ultimate ending. I loved the setting in South Australia and felt completely invested in the story. Amazing!

When Jess rushes back to Australia to help her grandmother in hospital, she couldn’t realise the unexplained mystery she would find unfolding. As a journalist, she begins reading a true crime book and discovers a connection between her own family and an unsolved murder which happened sixty years ago.
The story is set in two time frames, 1959 when the tragedy happened, and 2018. Jess decides to use her journalistic skills to investigate what really happened all those years ago. The book unfolds at a steady pace, and it seems a while before the real story begins.
It is quite a long book which gives depth to the characters, and you begin to feel that you know them. All have their secrets which are gradually explored as the story progresses, and the twists and turns involved in this compelling story keep you turning the pages.
This compelling family drama is another great read for Kate Morton fans.

Homecoming is set in southern Australia, where the action takes place around a mansion near a small town, Tumbilla, the scene of a horrific murder mystery sixty years before. In the present day, London-based journalist Jess, is called back home when her grandmother, Nora, lies ill in hospital. Jess is left to her own devices waiting for Nora to recover but when she finds a book written about the murders and realises there is a connection to her own family, she sets out to discover more. The final third of the book with its various revelations was excellent.

I found Homecoming a riveting read and would recommend it to all lovers of family sagas. Many thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan/Mantle for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Another brilliant Kate Morton book in fact to my mind one of her best.
Jess a journalist who originated from Australia but has lived in the UK for the last 20 years is at a turning point in her life when she gets a call from home to say that her beloved grandmother Nora has suffered a fall and is in hospital extremely sick.
Little does Jess know that the events that follow will change everything thing that she knew about her informative years growing up and her relationship with her mother as she starts to investigate a family tragedy that has been kept hidden for years.
In classic Kate style the book is a duel time story which will leave you glued to the very last page.
Can’t recommend it enough

Australia 1959 a delivery man taking a short cut across private land discovers a pastoral scene described in breathtaking beauty of a mother picnicking with her young family on Xmas Eve only to realise with shocking certainty they are all dead. Meanwhile London 2018 a journalist recently separated from her long time partner receives news that her much loved grandmother has taken a fall and in hospital necessitating an immediate journey to her childhood home in Australia. And so begins after several long years of waiting the latest book by Kate Morton. Retold by numerous perspectives, and over two timelines, we learn in intimate detail the highs and lows of a strong supportive community ricocheting from unexplained deaths and the long term effects on multiple families. Simultaneously Jessica our main protagonist is accidentally made aware of her connection to this historical tragedy and begins a search to uncover the secrets of her childhood. What unravels in slow exquisite detail is numerous lives dramatically changed by a single event with long lasting catastrophic results. The reader sees and smells the haunting beauty of the Australian wilderness: becoming achingly familiar with the dreams, disappointments and secrets of a community focused on the excitement of impending Xmas only become interviewees in a murder enquiry . A climax that uncovers decades of subterfuge and lies and finally allows families to move on is delivered in simplistic and shocking simplicity leaving the reader in stunned awe at the conclusion of yet again a 5 star read . This unable to put down, long awaited book by Kate Morton has ticked every box and will require a second read to explore and enjoy every nuance. A thrilling mystery covering a 60 year period of a family in crisis. Huge thanks to Kate Morton, publisher and Netgalley for the honour and privilege of allowing me to review this exceptional book.