Falling Home [Paperback]

Karen White (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2002

FALLING HOME is a coming home story about forgiveness and acceptance, and of finding love in the most unexpected of places.

Home is where the heart is, but Cassie Madison prefers to think of it as a place where one if born, then outgrows, along with skinned knees and childhood dreams.

A humiliated Cassie left Walton, Georgia for Manhattan fifteen years before, vowing never to return.

And then her sister calls. Their father is dying and wants Cassie to come back home.

When Cassie's father dies, saddling her with the family's antebellum home and letters hinting of an unknown sibling, Cassie finds herself sinking into the red Georgia clay like quicksand. Reluctantly, Cassie is pulled into the lives of her sister and family, and that of Sam Parker, the town doctor.

When tragedy strikes, Cassie is led to discover that home is a place that lives in one's heart, waiting with open arms to be rediscovered.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Cassie Madison has it all: a high-powered advertising career, a stylish Manhattan apartment, and a sophisticated, rich, and gorgeous fiance. It's a far cry from her childhood in Walton, Georgia, home of the annual Kudzu Festival and hot, sticky summers. And then there are all the bad memories, the heartache. When Cassie's estranged sister calls to say that her father is dying, Cassie knows it's time to set aside her feelings and go home and face the sister she hasn't seen in 15 years. When her father dies, he leaves the family home to Cassie, who can't wait to get rid of it and get back to New York, her job, and her fiance, even if it means having a developer tear down the house. But something keeps her in Walton, and she doesn't know if it's her mending relationship with her sister; the irresistible, aggravating Sam Parker, who wants her to preserve her house; or the feeling of finally being home. This sweet book is highly recommended. Alexandra Shrake
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...a rich novel about discovering roots and learning the true meaning of keeping the hearts of those you love." -- Deborah Smith, NYT Bestselling Author

"FALLING HOME is everything contemporary women's fiction should be...and more." -- Deb Stover, Award-winning Author

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Zebra (June 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821773380
• ISBN-13: 978-0821773383
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,558,536 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up being a voracious reader and it was a natural step to turn my interest to writing. I have published 14 award-winning and bestselling novels including my May 2011 release, THE BEACH TREES, which debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at number 14.

I write what others have termed "grit-lit"--southern women's fiction, as well as a contemporary paranormal mystery series set in Charleston. All of my books are set in the US South, and feature a female protagonist at a crossroads in her life.

I live near Atlanta, Georgia with my husband, two children, and the cutest 5-year-old Havanese dog, Quincy, whom readers may recognize as General Lee in the Tradd Street series.

My next release, THE STRANGERS ON MONTAGU STREET, is the third book in the Tradd Street series and will be released November 1, 2011. Two more books (not in the series) will be released in 2012.

For more about me and my books, please visit my website at www.karen-white.com or follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/karenwhiteauthor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 107 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Full of laughs and will generate tears, June 27, 2005

By 

Tracy Vest (Northern California) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Falling Home (Paperback)

Cassie is returning home to Walton, Georgia after a 15-year self-imposed exile from her family, after her sister Harriet ran off and eloped with Cassie's beau. Harriet and Joe now have five children that Cassie has never met. Now a successful advertising executive, with a fiance of her own, she returns home in time to say goodbye to her dying father, who in a last ditch effort to patch things up between the two sisters, has willed his home and all its possessions to Cassie in hopes that she'll return for good.

Cassie is reticent to see her sister, and still has ambivalent feelings for Joe. But what she doesn't count on is her feelings for old pal, Sam, who once was the class geek, and is now the respected town doctor. Sam has always had a crush on Cassie, but never revealed his true feelings (and when he does, he packs an emotional wallop). She is hoping to sell the house quickly and return to her fiance and her life in Manhattan; Sam has other ideas, as he tries to create a preservationist group to keep developers from turning her home into commercial property.

This story is so well written, and packed with so much humor and emotion, that it easily garners 5 stars. White manages to make you feel for the characters, and really relate to them (though Andrew was a bit one dimensional). And just when you think you know what is going to happen, a twist comes in to throw you off (though the supposed mystery really is not a mystery - you see that coming a mile away). I finished the book in a single day - I just couldn't put it down. It is very rare that a novel can elicit tears from a reader. "Falling Home" does that and more. It'll make you laugh, and it'll make you cry, but most of all, it will make you want to reconcile with your siblings. The Walton saga continues with "After the Rain."

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Falling Home is Real and it has Heart, August 15, 2002

By 

Marcia L. Hopkins - See all my reviews

This review is from: Falling Home (Paperback)

It's rare that I am moved to tears when reading a book. Movies can often make me cry but books, almost never. Falling Home managed to reduce me to tears but that is certainly not why I loved this story and it is not my criteria for what constitutes a great book. But when a book can elicit that kind of emotional response from me it's because the story is well written, it's real and it has heart.

Cassie Madison has spent 15 years in Manhattan building an enviable and powerful career in advertising. She hadn't spoken to her younger sister, Harriet, in those years since Harriet ran off and married the love of Cassie's life. During her absence Cassie kept in touch with her father and would meet him in Atlanta for a weekend once a year but refused to return to her hometown of Walton. Cassie believes she has outgrown the small town life and has become a big city snob. The story begins when Cassie must return to Walton after receiving a phone call from her sister with the news that their father is dying.

Cassie leaves Manhattan, her job and her fiancé, Andrew, to return to Walton to see her father for the last time. After arriving in Walton one of the first people Cassie meets is the town doctor, Dr. Sam Parker, one of her childhood friends. Sam is no longer the nerdy, goofy kid she knew but has morphed into an incredibly gorgeous hunk and one of the towns most loved and respected citizens. There are surprises, mysteries, and twists in this book that kept me reading until 4:30 a.m. on more then one night. I could not put this book down! There is hardly an emotion that isn't played on in this story about returning home, old hurts and heartbreak, growing up, letting go, learning what is really important in life and finding one's heart.

Karen White's first book, In the Shadow of the Moon, convinced me that she is an author whose books I will always look forward to reading and re-reading. Falling Home contains the excellent character development, story line, twists and turns and emotional depth that Ms. White consistently creates in her work. Those who read her work will not be disappointed and will ultimately become fans.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Karen White is a treasure!, August 15, 2002

By 

J. Martin (CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Falling Home (Paperback)

Cassie Madison had left her home of Walton, Georgia fifteen years earlier and had never looked back. Her heart had been broken by her younger sister Harriet's marriage to Cassie's long time love Joe. So she ran away to New York and made a new life for herself. But she can't refuse her dying father's wish to return home to Walton.

Returning to Walton is hard, but also a breath of fresh air. Old wounds have mended but new wounds are preparing to unleash themselves upon her soul. Her father is dying and secrets from his past are coming to light. And a childhood friend named Sam Parker is making her feel things that she had forgotten existed-even though she has a fiance in New York that she thought she was in love with.

FALLING HOME is one of those deep novels that I as a reader fall in love with. This is a book I refused to rush through, it was lyrical and beautiful, romantic and tragic. There were moments I laughed aloud, and times I pulled the Kleenex's closer. Cassie is a complex woman dealing with how the memories of her past are effecting her return home. This book should be shared with family and friends and a perfect book for a reader's group. I loved every page and look forward to many more books from Karen White.