Customer Reviews

A Way From Home: A Novel

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Alden and Becky Lowe have taken their daughter Julie with them as they travel to Prague in the early 1990's. Alden is the new Czech Ministry of Finance, and Becky is trying to become an entrepreneur of cosmetics from East to West. Theirs is a marriage of love and understanding, but in the middle of this is a feeling of the bizarre. Julie the daughter, is trying to become the best she can be, which morphs into a colorful, pierced, cosmetic laden young woman. She has many boyfriends, and delights in becoming this lady of love.

Alden is a mixture of fierceness and loyal Americanism. He often gives his staff boring lectures of the wrongs in their country, and what they must do make it right. Becky, on the other hand is becoming disaffected with her marriage and in particular with Alden. After a party welcoming relatives to Prague and to the castle they now live in, Becky decides to make a drastic move.

Becky leaves Alden and her children, and she begins a journey to Libya to find her true love William. After many trials and tribulations, she finds William and they live together in an old restored villa. She finds the writings of another young woman who has followed her path, and we begin to wonder if this story will continue as is or will change to match the glories of the past.

Alden, meanwhile is berefit , and he cannot continue. He works from the castle and eventually his entire staff move in with him to keep the Ministry going. Alden is beside himself- he has lost his love and he knows not why. Soon, Becky writes to her children to let them know she is well and safe. The letters find their way to Alden who is stupified, what has gone wrong? His sister, Ginger comes to visit and to try and straighten out these problems. What she finds is a mess and attempts to correct much of it. She is not successful, and what we find is that Becky has made her new life; and Alden is living in the past. Not a good way to end their marriage, nor a great way to end this book. Much of this book is well written and highlighted, but then it slows and dwindles, and there is no real message nor real ending. A disappointment. The stories within are fascinating but not brought to fruition. prisrob

Here's two cents for the pot of somewhat negative reviews. Rather than disdaining the chopped up story, I revelled in the descriptions of William restoring his villa, of his and Becky's pleasant life in rural Libya. How luxurious to have Clark on hand whenever I crave immersion from reality.

This was heavy plodding, most of the time. There were enough occasional lifts, reversions to the Nancy Clark writing I enjoy, to get me to keep going, but by the time I was two-thirds of the way through the book, I was skimming whole chunks of description, and of pretty lame William/Becky time.
Because I really LOVE the first and third books of this trilogy, I am telling myself that this departure from brilliance may really just be the only way to handle two totally self-absorbed people like Alden and Becky--though why it took Becky so long to realize doormats are never appreciated, I don't know--and a creepy freak like William, who is truly scarey. The breakdown of the marriage was a breakdown in communication, and a refusal to address it.
To me, the moral of the story is, foolish women just keep repeating the cycle of being drawn towards icky men. (Though in book three, I liked Alden, despite his vague self-absorption. He beats weird William, at any rate!) One has the impression that a man like Alden would try to change, if warned sincerely, and enough. One has the impression William would stalk Becky forever, (heavily armed!) if she ever changed her mind!

Now I know why I found this book in the $5.00 Bargain Bin. I picked it up to entertain me over some flights and it mostly succeeded in inducing sleep - which was a plus, I suppose. You'd think some extraordinary things could happen living in an old castle in Prague in the early 1990's. Not to mention the intrigue possible when a married woman runs off to live with her lover exiled in Libya due to some unspecified spy activity. Sadly, nothing really ever happens except long drawn out descriptions of minutia written in a beautiful, deeply detailed language but sometimes (I feel) meant to make the reader feel like a idiot, running to the dictionary or google to look up deliberately difficult words and references. Rather a snore, all in all.

I have yet to receive this item. I suggest readers be wary when ordering from individual sellers.