Luan Goldie is such a wonderful author I find it exasperating she isn't better known. I bought Homecoming after reading Nightingale Point, one of my favourite books of 2020.

At it's most basic, homecoming is a book about secrets and the difficulty of falling in love as a young adult, but it is also about grief, belonging and understanding a different generation and culture. Luan's writing is so easy to read, almost lyrical at points, and I could see this book being developed wonderfully on screen too (someone please buy it!!).

This book is messy. it could have been great but it just.... wasn't.

My first issue comes from the fact Bella Mackie herself is an upper middle class white woman who made her main character the daughter of a working class women who died. She had no idea how to write and flesh out the character she created because I don't think she has any idea of how people who are not middle class live? It was beyond grating. If she had made her more like the male character who was introduced later as the twist then I think it would have been much more believable and I think would have helped me root for a character who really wasn't very nice (but that's the point right?).

Secondly, it needed a HELL of an edit. The first couple of chapters were funny, as were some later on, but give me strength there were parts I was just skimming and guess what? It didn't make any difference to the story.

I really enjoyed Bella's memoir about running and mental health, which I think showed she is funny and clever but this felt like she was trying too hard to be funny and clever? And instead it just came across as turgid and condescending.