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 A
Place to Call Home
When the past won’t stay buried, sometimes the bonds
of childhood are the strongest of all.
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- New York Times Bestseller
- "Clear the decks when you read this book.
Delicious!" - Janet Evanovich
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Twenty years ago, Claire Maloney was
the willful, pampered, tomboyish daughter of the town’s most
respected family, but that didn’t stop her from befriending
Roan Sullivan, a fierce, motherless boy who lived in a
rusted-out trailer amid junked cars. No one in Dunderry,
Georgia—least of all Claire’s family—could understand the
bond between these two mavericks. But Roan and Claire
belonged together until the dark afternoon when violence and
terror overtook their lives, and Roan disappeared. Now, two
decades later, Claire is adrift, and the Maloneys are still
hoping the past can be buried under the rich Southern soil.
But Roan Sullivan is about to walk back into their lives . .
.
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This story came to me as I was driving
home from the grocery store one dark, cold spring night. I
do some of my most creative thinking while steering a car,
washing dishes or pulling weeds in the garden. So there I
was, cruising along a lonely mountain two-lane. I had been
struggling for months to come up with a book idea that
excited me. I was burned out and depressed. I had a
miserable relationship with a very destructive editor who
hated everything I sent her.
That night, I thought to myself: To
hell with it. I’m just going to come up with something that
I love, that’s close to who I am, a world I know a lot
about. I’ll take my chances. My only goal will be get back
the passionate joy of writing, again.
I began to run through aspects of my
family history that appealed to me. Big family. Small town.
Quirks. Oddball characters. And this little girl began to
talk to me. Really. I’d always written books in the
third-person perspective, as many writers do. (She went, She
carried, She said . . .) but suddenly, this funny little
southern girl was speaking inside my mind, in her own voice.
“When I’m old I’ll sit on
the porch and tell embarrassing stories about my family, and
everyone will say I’ve turned funny . . .”
She was there, almost fully
formed, immediately. I went home and grabbed a notepad and
scribbled as fast as I could. Soon I knew her name: Claire
Maloney. I huddled in front of my computer and began to
type.
My husband waved at me and
went to bed. The cats curled up and fell asleep.
I wrote all night. All
night. I barely noticed the time passing.
At dawn I crawled into bed
beside the hubby, determined to go to sleep. But Claire kept
talking so I got back up. At last count, I wrote for over
thirty hours straight before collapsing on a couch in the
living room for a nap.
That was the start of A
Place To Call Home.
A book I consider not only
one of my best works, but the most amazing writing
experience I’ve ever had.
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New York Times
bestseller
"Clear the decks when you read this book. Delicious!"
- Janet Evanovich
"One of the top 200
romances of the 20th century" – Romantic Times BookClub
"A damned good
book" – Jacksonville Times-Union
"Enchanting" --
Raleigh News and Observer
"Seductive" –
Publishers Weekly
"Superb" – Baton
Rouge Magazine
"Enthralling" –
Woman’s Own Magazine
"A beautiful,
believable love story" – Chicago Tribune
"Exciting and
heartwarming" - Booklist
"Lyrical,
beautiful." – Romantic Times
"Sit back, put your
feet up and enjoy" – Atlanta Journal Constitution
"A moving story
that holds you to the end and has all the warmth and
tenderness of LaVyrle Spencer at her best." – Iris Johansen
"Passionate, wise .
. . a must-read for romantics." – Cosmopolitan Magazine
"A rich evocation
of family and place. Recommended." – Library Journal
"It will make you
laugh and cry and help you believe that life still can have
happy – or at least bittersweet – endings." - Colorado Springs
Gazette
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