Welcome Home, Stranger: A Novel

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Kate Christensens new novel,Welcome Home, Stranger, is a revelation, offering characters as real as your family and friends, a rich, vividly drawnsetting, grab-you-by-the-throat drama and always, lurking in the shadows, a fierce authorial intelligence.What more could you askRichard Russo, author ofSomebodys Fool

To the great literature of going home again we can now add Kate Christensens superb new novelWelcome Home, Stranger,a triumph of intelligence and wit (which will surprise none of her many fans).The prodigal here is a brilliant journalist grieving the loss of a very difficult mother while attempting peace with those she left behind: a resentful sister and an ex-lover who can be neither trusted nor forgotten. A spellbinding book from one of our best chroniclers of the very American struggle to strive for excellence while still living in community with others.Ann Packer, author ofThe Childrens Crusade

A deeply endearing story about confronting ones past and constructing a new futureunder extreme duress. . . . Welcome Home, Stranger . . . arrives at the most lovely ending of a novel Ive read all year."Washington Post[

From the PEN-Faulkner Award-winning author of The Great Man comes a novel about grief, love, growing older, and the complications of family that is the story of a fifty-something woman who goes homereluctantlyto Maine after the death of her mother.

Can you ever truly go home again

An environmental journalist in Washington, DC, Rachel has shunned her New England working-class family for years. Divorced and childless in her middle age, shes a true independent spirit with the pain and experience to prove it. Coping with challenges large and small, she thinks her life is in free falluntil shes summoned home to deal with the aftermath of her mothers death.

Then things really fall apart.

Surrounded by a cast of sometimes comic, sometimes heartbreakingly serious charactersan arriviste sister, an alcoholic brother-in-law and, most importantly, the love of her life recently married to the sisters best friendRachel must come to terms with her past, the sorrow she has long buried, and the ghost of the mother who, for better and worse, made her the woman she is.

Lively, witty, and painfully familiar, this sophisticated and emotionally resonant novel from the author of The Great Man holds a mirror up to modern life as it considers the way some of us must carry on now.

Reviews

"Our shelves could use more women like Rachel and Sam as a counterpoint to men in midlife whove dominated fiction for decades. . . . Its exhilarating to read an uninhibited female character who is rife with contradictions. . . . Christensen also does a skillful job of animating difficult family relationships while avoiding a conventional arc of forgiveness. . . . In the end, it is surprising to see where Rachel meets herself. New York Times "A deeply endearing story about confronting ones past and constructing a new futureunder extreme duress . . . . Welcome Home, Stranger . . . arrives at the most lovely ending of a novel Ive read all year." The Washington Post "Kate Christensens new novel, Welcome Home, Stranger, is a revelation, offering characters as real as your family and friends, a rich, vividly drawnsetting, grab-you-by-the-throat drama and always, lurking in the shadows, a fierce authorial intelligence.What more could you ask" Richard Russo, author of Somebodys Fool "A fantastic study in lossthe grief kind and the yearning too, oh my god the yearning! Plus menopause. Plus Portland, Maine. I loved it." Catherine Newman, author of We All Want Impossible Things "To the great literature of going home again we can now add Kate Christensens superb new novelWelcome Home, Stranger,a triumph of intelligence and wit (which will surprise none of her many fans).The prodigal here is a brilliant journalist grieving the loss of a very difficult mother while attempting peace with those she left behind: a resentful sister and an ex-lover who can be neither trusted nor forgotten. A spellbinding book from one of our best chroniclers of the very American struggle to strive for excellence while still living in community with others." Ann Packer, author of The Childrens Crusade "RachelCalloway is a compelling heroine for the present momentangry, honest, independent, witty, brilliant, and in pain. She sometimes makes impulsive choices, but her integrity is always intact. This is the most contemporarynovel I have ever read, and I immersed myselfinRachel's Portland, Maine, her family and friends, her knowledge of coming climate catastrophes, and her confusion about where home is for her. Then suddenly, I realized that I was reading about the entire human condition, portrayed in crystal sentencesI will return to many times.Welcome Home, Strangeris a novel for now and for the ages." Alice Elliott Dark, author ofFellowship PointandIn the Gloaming Kate Christensen's eighth novel is a brief, brilliant story of grief and love. It's Job on menopause, crying, 'Why am I still here' but without the biblical overtones. It's your next book club book. It's the novel your husband should read even though I've mentioned menopause. It's your coolest friend's most astute tirade on life. I loved it from page one. Minneapolis Star Tribune With wit and a never-ending supply of humanity, Christensens characters navigate anger, grief, frustration, and pain like we all do: by putting one foot in front of the other. And the result is a disarmingly genuine and nuanced portrait of living. Amazon Best of the Month Pick "If you're looking for some dysfunctional-family schadenfreude to sweeten your holidays, look no further." People "This snarky, vulnerable, complicated main character feels so real, youll swear you actuallyknow her." Real Simple Christensen is a psychological Geiger-counter, registering every particle of emotion; a wizard at dialogue and redolent settings, and an intrepid choreographer of confoundment. From gasp-inducing absurdities and betrayals to a profound sense of our paralysis in the glare of climate change to a full-on embrace of family, love, home, and decency, Christensens whirligig tale leaves readers dizzy with fresh and provocative insights. Booklist (starred review) "In her eighth novel, Kate Christensen writes about a woman losing her mother in the context of middle age, a 50-something who returns home after the loss and yet is contending with all the funny things in life. Vivid, real, and leaving you with a chuckle, this is an uplifting story about the inevitability of lifes changes and the attitude required to get through." Katie Couric Media " An intricate novel, exploring family, mothers and daughters and the choices we make. Lee Woodruff "A satisfying, intimate novel about complicated people at middle age, coming to terms with lost love, and the ghosts who shaped your life. Boston Globe Reading Kate Christensens incisive eighth novel, a quote from 19thcentury author Ivan Turgenev came to mind: 'A poet must be a psychologist.'As evidenced in her previous works,Christensen is both.Her prose glimmers and glints, more sensation than exposition,whether shes shining her light on broken family, broken dreams or our broken Earth.In this short but mighty novel,Christensen does a psychologists job with a poets lyrical pen. San Francisco Chronicle "An astute novel of grief and reconciliation. . . . One of the joys of a Kate Christensen book is her signature exuberance. No one writes about excess and appetite with such gusto, making over-the-topness a mainstay. . . . By the end, this book satisfies on a number of fronts. Its about the pull of family you thought you knew, but didnt; of long-buried resentments and freshly minted ones, as well. As a meditation on grief, it is, by turns, raucous and fiery, despairing and resoluteand wittily entertaining throughout. Portland Press Herald "Few writers have a wit as razor sharp as Kate Christensens . . . . Her new novel follows an environmental journalist as she returns to her small Maine hometown after the death of her mother, and grapples with grief, family, and aging. I would trust no less deft a hand than Christensens to manage the balance of humor, devastation, and squabbling." Literary Hub "Christensen skillfully portrays the issues at play in many families: there are deep bonds, but also deep resentments, 'volcanic' emotions, and decades-old misunderstandings. The character Lucie, an immature, thwarted tyrant, is particularly well drawn. Readers in search of an engrossing family drama will find much to like." Publishers Weekly The novel has a psychological element that invites readers to understand the behavior of its principal characters . . . . [and] The state of Maine itself is a warm, embraceable character. Albuquerque Journal

Author Bio

KATE CHRISTENSEN is the author of seven novels, most recently The Last Cruise. Her fourth novel, The Great Man, won the 2008 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. She has also published two food-centric memoirs, Blue Plate Special and How to Cook a Moose, which won the 2016 Maine Literary Award for Memoir. Her essays, reviews, and short pieces have appeared in a wide variety of publications and anthologies. She lives with her husband and their two dogs in Taos, New Mexico.