The Road Towards Home: A Novel

by Corinne Demas

Overview

In this witty, warm novel by award-winning author Corinne Demas, unexpected changes bring two retirees together on a voyage of self-discovery from past regrets to the true meaning of happily ever after.

Widower Noah Shilling considers Clarion Court to be less an independent living community and more a prison. But there may be hope for the place yet. The newest resident is bold, eccentric, rule-breaking Cassandra Joyce—whom, as it turns out, Noah met long ago in college.

As Noah and Cassandra get reacquainted, major changes at Clarion Court force them both to reevaluate their living situation. When Noah invites Cassandra to rough it with him at his Cape Cod cottage, the old friends must decide whether they should risk embarking on the next stage of their journey together.

But moving forward means coming to terms with the past and relying on each other to do so, which is something the stubbornly independent pair may not be ready for. They’ve come this far on their own, and unless they can reconcile a lifetime of emotional baggage, the road they started down together may lead instead to parted ways.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781662511905
Publisher:	Amazon Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/2023
Pages:	285
Sales rank:	497,523
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Corinne Demas is the award-winning author of thirty-seven books, including five novels (among them The Writing Circle and Returning to Shore), two short story collections, a memoir (Eleven Stories High: Growing Up in Stuyvesant Town, 1948─1968), a poetry chapbook (The Donkeys Postpone Gratification), a play, and numerous books for children (including Saying Goodbye to Lulu, The Littlest Matryoshka, and The Disappearing Island). Her short stories have appeared in more than fifty publications. She is also the editor of Great American Short Stories: From Hawthorne to Hemingway.

Corinne is a professor emerita of English at Mount Holyoke College and a fiction editor for the Massachusetts Review. She divides her time between Western Massachusetts and Cape Cod. Visit Corinne’s website at www.CorinneDemas.com, or find her on Twitter @corinnedemas.

Editorial Reviews

How welcome and true: late love, beautifully and wryly rendered. Both light hearted and insightful, with age-defying charm and wit, The Road Towards Home is a totally satisfying (and identifiable!) read.” —Elinor Lipman, author of Ms. Demeanor and Rachel to the Rescue

“Corinne Demas is amazing! The Road Towards Home is about two opinionated, rigid, and, yes, curmudgeonly septuagenarians who will have you falling in love and rooting for them as they negotiate and argue their way to a last run at happiness. Noah and Cassandra are so believable that I’m certain I’ve been over at their house for dinner—and the dialogue between them made me laugh out loud and also shake my head at their stubbornness. I utterly adored this novel, which is filled with wisdom and generosity and heart, qualities that readers of all ages will appreciate.” —Maddie Dawson, bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners

“When Noah (saved the world with a boat) meets Cassandra (sees the future way too clearly) at the aptly named Clarion retirement home, they are both seriously not getting with the program. Though barely acquainted, they agree to escape together. As they break free from the planned trajectory and plunge into the uncharted territory of each other, you’ll be rooting for the oldsters all the way. The Road Towards Home is a wonderful novel—engaging, wry, and genuinely touching.” —Valerie Martin, author of Property and I Give It To You

“In the novel The Road Towards Home, feisty entomologist Cassandra Joyce, who has been married multiple times, moves to a senior-living community. Quickly, she finds Clarion Court is not her clarion call. So, too, does widower Professor Noah Shilling, whose son and daughter-in-law are behind his relocation. When Cassandra drives Noah to his summer cottage on Cape Cod, there’s a lifetime of baggage to be unpacked. Kudos to Corinne Demas—heralded author of thirty books for children, teens, and adults—for this late-in-life romance: a story that shows both love and friendship can be found where and when least expected…and most necessary. Cassandra and Noah will open your mind—and your heart—to finding love at any stage of life. Uniquely uplifting.” —Marilyn Simon Rothstein, author of Crazy to Leave You

“This latest novel by the always wonderful Corinne Demas is about a growing relationship through the hiccups of aging. The two main characters are both fascinating and thoughtful people. He an English professor emeritus, she a bug-and-spider scientist plus bird-watcher. The ‘home’ of the title is rather two homes: the first where they remeet (they knew one another in college some fifty years in the past), and the second Noah’s rather charming but broken-down cottage on a Cape Cod marsh, a great metaphor for the two of them. They are both wise and wisecrackers, both loving and snarky. And I, at eighty-three, sat up half the night finishing the book. It’s that good.” —Jane Yolen, award-winning author of The Devil’s Arithmetic and the short story collection The Scarlet Circus

From the Publisher