Books That Ask: Can You Ever Truly Go Back?

It’s not the main character, Beth, who returns home in this novel but her former love, Gabriel, who arrives back in their English village years after leaving her heartbroken. Now married to another man, Beth is destabilized from Gabriel’s return, especially since his son reminds her of the one she lost.

When Beth’s brother-in-law shoots Gabriel’s son’s dog after it harms their farm animals, their lives collide again, stirring up both forbidden passion and buried secrets. You’ll find this recent Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick nearly impossible to put down as it builds to a shocking conclusion.

Kristan Higgins never fails to deliver funny, heartwarming stories, and that’s certainly true in this novel. Emma was raised by her wealthy, uptight New England grandmother, Genevieve, until she became pregnant as a teen and Genevieve kicked her out. So Emma, now a single mother of a teen girl, is shocked when Genevieve asks her to return.

The dynamic between these two characters reminded me so much of Lorelai and Emily Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, and I was emotionally invested in Emma’s homecoming as secrets, long-buried tensions, and unexpected love were revealed.

Billie left her family’s Kentucky farm when her mother died by suicide. Now she’s in her 30s and not exactly functioning. When her father dies, she returns for the funeral only to discover she’s inherited the farm… and its mountain of debt. But Billie’s plans to sell the farm to local billionaire Reese are ditched when she learns he’s a sexist and racist with eyes on her dad’s horse, Cactus Jack. The trouble is, she’ll need to win a horse race against Reese to keep it all.

If you’re like me, you’ll cheer for Billie and her quirky crew as they attempt to triumph in this western homecoming story.

Sometimes it’s not just a town you return to, but an entire culture. In this powerful novel, Yitian’s father’s disappearance in rural China leads him back home after nearly ten years working as a professor in America. China’s Cultural Revolution has made the country far different than the one he left, and Yitian struggles to adjust, let alone find his missing father. Along the way, he reunites with Hanwen, an old friend he once loved. You’ll be turning pages to see where Yitian’s search leads as he comes to terms with his changing home country.

Years after a tragedy tore her family apart, 30-year-old Freya returns to Somers, New York, when she runs out of rent money. There, in the house she inherited from her parents, she discovers Aubrey, her 15-year-old niece who’s been hiding out. As Freya and Aubrey restore the home together and strengthen their bond, Freya struggles to come to terms with the past among a hometown full of old friends and bad memories.

Freya’s voice will absolutely pull you into this new release, which draws wonderfully from an unconventional setting (Somers is the birthplace of the circus in America).

If you enjoy magical realism and lush descriptions of food as much as I do, you’ll adore this book about Violeta, who left family, culture, and the young man she loved back in Columbia to fulfill her educational and artistic dreams in New York. But with her grandmother’s death, Violeta journeys back home, haunted by the old woman’s ghost, who keeps sending her messages. In Columbia, she’s faced with her family’s struggling restaurant and her future, not to mention a romance she thought was over. You’ll love entering her world with its rich descriptions of food and family.