Author: Katy Regan

Publisher: Berkley

ISBN: 9780451490377

A brother and sister reunite after being separated for more than a decade. When the sister tries to help her older brother get back on his feet, their unresolved issues force them to confront one another. Author Katy Regan builds a heartwarming, and occasionally heartbreaking, sibling relationship in her latest novel How to Find Your Way Home.

Emily Nelson does what she can for London’s homeless and housing insecure population. In her civil service job, she listens to stories both real and exaggerated from people who are trying to work their way up the list for government housing. Every day she’s filled with anguish for the people she can’t help. At the top of that list is her brother, Steven. At least, he would be if she knew where he was. 

Years ago, Steven committed a horrific act that sent him to prison. After his release, he struggled with drugs and bounced from one location to the next. Emily knows that Steven is homeless, but she has no idea where he is or how he spends her days.

When they were kids on Canvey Island, her big brother was her hero. He shared his love of bird watching and nature with her, and the siblings spent hours following migration patterns. The birds weren’t so important to Emily; for her it was about spending time with Steven.

Then their mother had an affair, divorced their father, and settled in with the new love of her life, and everything changed. Steven struggled to get along with their stepfather, and Emily absorbed the tension in the house along with their mother’s constant disappointment that life hadn’t turned out to be the idyllic situation she’d expected. After Steven’s imprisonment, the family frittered. Emily, despondent, has waited for a chance to help Steven ever since.

In a moment straight from a movie, one day Steven walks into the office seeking help with government housing. Emily is beside herself and takes him home. Never mind that he smokes nineteen to a dozen or that he’s a messy houseguest. She’ll deal with anything to make sure she never loses track of Steven again.

Steven is grateful for his sister’s love and assistance, but he also struggles with it. He knows he’s responsible for the choices he made that contributed to his homelessness, but he’s also aware that the event that sent his life in this direction was out of his control. Emily doesn’t seem to get that or remember it or is doing her best to ignore it; he can’t decide which. As he and his little sister, once the light of his life, start to tiptoe around the horrible events of the day he was arrested, they both learn how to name for themselves and one another the things that matter most.

Author Katy Regan’s skilled eye for detail and description brings to life Canvey Island where Steven discovers his love for birdwatching. Regan creates scenes so rich that readers will feel like they’re standing right next to Steven as he watches the swifts arrive for the summer season in England. Unlike other books that focus on the busy-ness of larger urban areas, Regan’s novel elicits a quiet delight in the charm and beauty of small-town life.

Regan also shows a practiced hand at building her story, balancing past events with the present in an even way. Emily spends a lot of time agonizing over whether she could have done more in the past to help her brother, but she also charges forward with purpose when the opportunity presents itself. She knows her Steven might resent the label of a homeless person, but she also believes that her job has equipped her to support him in all the ways that count.

There’s nothing easy about the way Steve and Emily reunite or the conversations they have once they’re together again. Regan manages to keep surprising readers all the way to an end that is satisfying, inevitable, and yet completely unexpected all at the same time. For anyone wanting a thoughtful novel about family relationships, the tension on the bonds that tie people to one another, and the elasticity that allows those bonds to adjust for life will want to read this book. I recommend readers Binge How to Find Your Way Home.