The Way Back Home

The Way Back Home is internationally award-winning novelist Allan Stratton’s tenth young adult novel. This time he uses his storytelling talents to steer readers’ attention to a theme often neglected in young adult literature: aging and ageism. Current popular culture is filled with inaccurate tropes about the elderly. What is too often missed is that seniors live full and purposeful lives and may play a vital role in the lives of their families. Good literature challenges assumptions by providing readers with characters and plots that are authentic and rich. The Way Back Home does all this in an entertaining, exciting plot.

The story zooms in on a family in crisis. Zoe, the story’s narrator, is hitting hard up against adolescence and some of its uglier social dynamics. An outcast at her high school, her single connection is her cousin Madi whom Zoe describes as, “my best friend except I hate her. When we were little, she decided what toys I could play with. Now she decides who I can have as friends, which is nobody except the cool kids at her table in the caf. And they’re not even friends. They don’t invite me to their parties, and I have to laugh along when Madi throws shade about my hand-me-downs and where I live.” Where she lives is a grim “one-story aluminum box near the highway”, a structure which doubles as Zoe’s mother Carrie’s hair salon and her father Tim’s insurance business during the day. The family’s financial and emotional fragility is made clear in a cringe-filled family dinner where Zoe’s parents ask Madi’s well-heeled parents for a loan. Like the daughter they’ve raised, Jess and Chad are bullies. Their refusal to lend the money is cool and patronizing and leaves Tim and Carrie feeling hopeless and angry. Meanwhile down the hall in Zoe’s bedroom, Madi is delivering some bad news of her own: “Speaking of being unwanted, I was trying to find a nice way to say this, but there is no nice way, so I‘m just going to say it: stop talking to me at school, stop sitting at my table, and don’t visit my locker. Okay?”
Unfortunately, Zoe’s parents’ emotional resources are now so tapped that they fail to recognize their daughter’s mounting distress. The evening ends with a bitter, door-slamming quarrel and the family is driven farther apart.

Zoe takes refuge in the deep and loving friendship she shares with her spunky, fun-loving grandmother, Grace Bird. Granny is central to Zoe’s mental health, and Zoe spends most of her free time at the rambling, decrepit yet beloved “Bird House”. But like everyone else in town, Zoe can see that Granny is slipping. The evidence is everywhere: poor hygiene, house and yard in chaos, confused and erratic behavior. While Zoe is determined to support her grandmother’s wish to stay in her home, Zoe’s parents know that time is running out on Granny’s independence. A bad fall puts Granny in the hospital and then inevitably, a nursing home.

And then Zoe’s life gets much worse

Out of desperate loneliness, Zoe falls for a vicious trick by Madi. She is cruelly assaulted and humiliated. While readers will be shocked by the attack, Stratton has skillfully laid the groundwork so that by now readers know what Madi is capable of.

Remarkably, the intensity increases even more when Zoe makes the wild decision to scoop up her grandmother from the nursing home and take her to Toronto to look for the long lost and mysterious “Uncle Teddy”. Surely he will take Zoe in and save Granny from the nursing home? With only the return address from letters sent years ago to guide them, the pair quickly run out of money and find themselves on the street. Stratton depends on our belief in the characters he’s developed to overcome our incredulity as Zoe and Granny pick their way through the seedy and dangerous inner city. But we’re learning right along with Zoe that her tenacity and resourcefulness can overcome many obstacles.

Between the fast, dangerous plot points, Stratton has artfully squeezed in, and now slowly reveals, the truth behind a family secret.

When Zoe is finally able to locate Uncle Teddy, now Aunt Teddi, the plot is held together by well-constructed characters behaving believably, if not always carefully.

The action and intensity drives the pace of this story, but it is the strong characters who glue it together. Some readers might quarrel with the presentation of Zoe’s parents. They are particularly clueless and reactive when it comes to raising their daughter, and their growth spurt at the end just might be a bit too tidy. But more important is the central role that Granny plays. Readers are treated to a fully fleshed out human being coping with cognitive decline while she clings to an independent life of purpose.

And then there’s Zoe. Her snappy retorts and inner monologues show us that she is quick-witted and smart. And her loving, patience with her grandmother tells us all we need to know about her heart. But Stratton leaves it to his readers to puzzle out what fuels her anger. Maybe it is the powerlessness that many adolescents feel, or maybe it is the sheer frustration of isolation. Happily, in a very satisfactory conclusion, Zoe learns to focus her passions so that ultimately others recognize and respect her talents.

But before this novel ends, there is still much to resolve: Madi must be held to account, Zoe and her parents must learn to trust and listen to one another, Granny’s living situation must be determined, and Aunt Teddi must find her way back home. Stratton seems to be suggesting that sometimes blowing things up is the only way to make things right again. The Way Back Home explores themes like aging and ageism, the impact of gender reassignment on all family members, courage and the importance of faith in our loved ones, and most importantly: the transformative power of forgiveness. This novel, an excellent choice for a middle school library or literature circle, is certain to stimulate discussion and debate.