The Road Home [Hardcover]

Eliza Thomas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 6, 1997

It occurred to Eliza Thomas when she hit her forties that home might be "someplace you made." A modest cabin in the woods of Vermont seemed like a good place to start. Thomas's funny, heartwarming experiences transform the weekend cabin into a real home--a place where Thomas paints the floor the same color as her grandmother's beach house porch; where hordes of ladybugs come to visit one Indian summer; and the place her adopted baby daughter excitedly recognizes as they make their way through the woods in a snowstorm. In writing that is at once funny and poignant, Eliza Thomas welcomes us into the warm and cozy rooms of her first real home. "A charming memoir . . . Thomas details the joys and problems of rural living."--Publishers Weekly; "Pleasant to read, funny at times, candid and poignant at others . . . by the end of the book, Thomas accomplishes a remodeled future built by hand, and a sense of her life as a narrative leading home."--The New York Times Book Review; "Another back-to-nature/independent woman story? Hardly. Which is what makes Thomas's memoir, THE ROAD HOME, all the more enjoyable. . . . She conveys a very real, living definition of home."--The Boston Globe. A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB and QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB selection.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

After decades of living "in a period of transition, before life really began," Thomas decided it was time to have a place to call home. So she bought an old cabin in Vermont, started fixing it up with help from her weekend friend, Julian, and signed up to adopt a baby from China. This memoir recounts her efforts to make her new home more livable by adding running water, adequate heating, extra rooms, and more amenities. In the process, she forms a closer bond with Julian and prepares for the arrival of her new daughter. Facing and overcoming various obstacles, she gains increasing self-confidence. The resulting work, partly a personal journal and partly a mere recollection of mundane events, lacks real insight and fails to capture the reader's attention.?Ilse Heidmann, San Marcos, Tex.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This gently compelling chronicle details the transformation of a dilapidated little house into a genuine home. After purchasing an abandoned Boy Scout cabin in rural Vermont, fortyish Eliza Thomas took stock of her life and realized she had neglected to put down any roots. Inspired by desire and necessity to create both a viable living space and a nurturing environment for herself and her newly adopted daughter, Thomas energetically tackled the seemingly overwhelming task of clearing four acres of land and rehabbing a tiny one-room shack into a cozy wilderness retreat. Along with vivid descriptions of each new physical improvement and addition, the reader is also treated to an intimate glimpse into the author's own spiritual regeneration. Each page of this rehabber's delight is infused with all the humor, warmth, and love Thomas also invested in fashioning her new life and her new home. Margaret Flanagan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 196 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (January 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565121694
• ISBN-13: 978-1565121690
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,806,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Warm and Wonderful, May 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road Home (Hardcover)

This book carries the warmth you would share as you sit in the evening by the fire listening to an old friend tell you personal stories of their life. Some of the chapters, such as 'My Father's Violin' stand on their own as beautiful essays. I read and re-read that chapter several times as Eliza talked about memories of her father and the few shared times that they had together. The entire book is a reminder of what is important in life and how we all search for our own home.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SO GOOD I OWN IT!, April 2, 2002

By 

Lorraine N Miller (Across the border in NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Road Home (Hardcover)

From all the books I checked out at the library, this is the first that I had to own. This book is so New England you can't help but laugh out loud. She has guts AND the ability to laugh at her own stupidness. Any one who does not get a chuckle out of this book needs to loosen up in life and stop and smell the roses. I wish I had half the gall that she has to make life the way she has, and I wish I knew her.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars heartwarming, uplifting memoir, February 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Road Home (Hardcover)

This is such a lovely, small treasure. Like reading the diary of a wonderful friend, off on the adventure of her life, taking chances, getting scared, terrified, stuck, lonely, but trying again each time, full of life, hopeful--a lot like a lot of our lives. I think that's why I liked it so much. It was so real. It made me feel that there are others out there who are scared, vacillate, worry, yet continue on. I loved this book.