This is the sun setting on December 31, 2022.

And I have to admit, I watched it slip beyond the horizon with some degree of satisfaction. I’ve tried to write an account of the year a few times now, but to date the twists and turns have resisted my attempts to wrangle them into a neat summary. Suffice to say, and to quote Dickens, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

One of the best parts was finishing Homecoming and knowing that I would have a story to share with you this year. Writing novels can be an isolating pursuit: I spend a lot of my time alone at my desk, thinking, dreaming, and worrying over people who exist, to that point, only in my mind, and yet who feel — who are — entirely real to me. This period of handover, when they cease to be solely mine, and take up residence in your imaginations, too, is surreal and scary and wonderful.

The first ideas for Homecoming came to me in the early months of the pandemic, when my family and I returned to Australia from London for what we thought would be a few months. Removed from the bustling city to a farm in South Australia, from late winter to the last long days of summer, I thought a lot about home and belonging, and kept coming back to the T.S. Eliot line about ‘the still point of the turning world’. That is where I felt myself to be, as global events churned and swirled beyond.

I had begun work on another book in March 2020, but finding myself in a garden full of fruit trees and vines and late season roses, passing jet-lagged days in the shade of an old walnut tree (beloved of a clutch of big black cockatoos), I lost touch with my previous plans and a new picture started to form. Images came to me of a man on a horse, and a family living in a stone farmhouse, and a shocking scene beneath a willow on the edge of a sun-warmed creek, and I knew that this was the story I had to tell.

By now, some of you will have received (and even read!) advanced editions of Homecoming. I have loved seeing your early reviews online and knowing that you connected with the characters and story. Thank you for taking the time to pen them. For a writer, it’s a little like receiving postcards from abroad to say that a much-loved family member, travelling alone for the first time, has found kindred spirits out there in the big, wide world.

As always, you can pre-order a copy of Homecoming from one of the booksellers listed here on my WEBSITE or via your favourite local bookshop. I’ve been busy signing stacks of tip-in sheets for special editions in the UK and US, and will soon let you know the details of where and when you can find them.

For US readers there’s currently an opportunity to win an advanced proof copy over at Goodreads (see details at the end of this post), and for everyone else, I’ll be sharing an extract from the opening of the novel with my MAILING LIST members next month.

I can’t wait for you to meet Jess, Nora, Polly, Percy, Isabel and the rest of them! Until then, I’m so glad to have the chance to wish you a Happy New Year, and to send my very best to you and yours.

Goodreads is giving away 50 Advanced Reading Editions of Homecoming. The competition is for the US only (with apologies to my other readers; I’ll let you know of any other opportunities) and ends on January 15th 2023. You can enter HERE.

Please note: this competition is run by Goodreads. You will not receive any messages from me via social media or email requesting personal details for prizes, and payment is never requested or required. Stay vigilant against scammers, Team!

. . . and good luck!