Synopses & Reviews
A successful lawyer is pulled back into her troubled family's life in rural Montana in the wake of her sister's death in this mesmerizing, emotionally evocative, and atmospheric literary novel
For a Terrebonne, the home place is the safe haven, the convergence of waters, the place where the beloved dead are as real as the living. . . .
The only Terrebonne who made it out, Alma thought she was done with Montana, with its cruel poverty, bleak winters, and stifling ways. Hard work and steely resolve got her to Yale, and now she's an attorney in a high-profile Seattle law firm, too consumed by her career to think about the past. But an unexpected call from the Montana police takes the successful lawyer back to her provincial hometown and pulls her into the family trouble she thought she'd escaped.
Her lying, party-loving younger sister, Vicky, is dead. The Billings police say that a very drunk Vicky wandered away from a party and died of exposure after a night in the brutal cold. The strong one who fled Billings and saved herself, Alma returns to make Vicky's funeral arrangements and see to her eleven-year-old niece, Brittany. Once she is back in town, Alma discovers that Vicky's death may not have been an accident.
Needing to make her peace with the sister she left behind, Alma sets out to find the truth, an emotional journey that leads her to the home place, her grandmother Maddie's house on the Montana plains that has been the center of the Terrebonne family for generations. She re-encounters Chance, her first love, whose presence reminds her of everything that once was . . . and everything that might be. But before she can face the future, Alma must acknowledge the truth of her own life—the choices that have haunted her and ultimately led her back to this place.
The Home Place is a story of secrets that will not lie still, human bonds that will not break, and crippling memories that will not be silenced. It is a story of rural towns and runaways, of tensions corporate and racial, of childhood trauma and adolescent betrayal, and of the guilt that even forgiveness cannot ease. Most of all, it is a story of the place we carry in us always: home.
Review
“Powerfully evocative and page-turning.” Rosamund Lupton, New York Times-bestselling author of Sister and Afterwards
Review
“Once this novel is cracked open it'll pull you in and dare you to come up for air... The Home Place is a lot of things: a mystery, a crime drama, a family saga, and — most importantly — a very, very good book.” Wiley Cash, New York Times-bestselling author of This Dark Road to Mercy
Review
“Carrie La Seur's debut is a gripping story of family, love and murder. Set against an indelibly drawn Montana landscape, The Home Place explores the intangible ways we are both defined by and in opposition to the people and places we call home.” Tara Conklin, New York Times-bestselling author of The House Girl
Review
“Walloping in suspense, drama, rage, and remorse, this debut is an accomplished literary novel of the new West.” Library Journal
Review
“La Seur makes a very assured debut. Her characters are rich and believable; the plot is perfectly paced with mystery and romance enough to keep the reader hooked. And its all played against a beautifully drawn Montana backdrop.” Booklist
Review
“La Seur entices readers with impeccable prose imbued with a blend of romance, nostalgia and suspense.” Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
Carrie La Seur makes her remarkable debut with
The Home Place, a mesmerizing, emotionally evocative, and atmospheric literary novel in the vein of
The House Girl and
A Land More Kind Than Home, in which a successful lawyer is pulled back into her troubled familys life in rural Montana in the wake of her sisters death.
The only Terrebonne who made it out, Alma thought she was done with Montana, with its bleak winters and stifling ways. But an unexpected call from the local police takes the successful lawyer back to her provincial hometown and pulls her into the family trouble she thought shed left far behind: Her lying, party-loving sister, Vicky, is dead. Alma is told that a very drunk Vicky had wandered away from a party and died of exposure after a night in the brutal cold. But when Alma returns home to bury Vicky and see to her orphaned niece, she discovers that the death may not have been an accident.
The Home Place is a story of secrets that will not lie still, human bonds that will not break, and crippling memories that will not be silenced. It is a story of rural towns and runaways, of tensions corporate and racial, of childhood trauma and adolescent betrayal, and of the guilt that even forgiveness cannot ease. Most of all, this is a story of the place we carry in us always: home.
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About the Author
Carrie La Seur is an energy and environmental lawyer in Billings, Montana. She earned a doctorate in modern languages from Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, a law degree from Yale, and a bachelor's degree magna cum laude from Bryn Mawr College. She is a licensed private pilot who hikes, skis, and fishes the Montana wilderness with her family in her spare time.