The Homecoming

(Paperback)

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An internationally bestselling, award-winning novel peering deep into the passions, losses, and reveries of the wife of eighteenth-century explorer Captain James Cook.

After twelve years of marriage to English explorer James Cook, Elizabeth has yet to spend an entire year with her husband. In their house by the Thames, she moves to the rhythms of her life as a society wife, but there is so much more to her than meets the eye. She has the fortitude to manage the house and garden, raise their children, and face unbearable sorrow by herselfin fact, she is sometimes in thrall to her own independence.

As she prepares for another homecoming, Elizabeth looks forward to Jamess triumphant return and the work she will undertake reading and editing his voluminous journals. But will the private life shes been leading in his absence distract her from her role in aid of her husbands grand ambitions Can James find the compassion to support her as their family faces unimaginable loss, or must she endure life alone as he sails off toward another adventure

An intimate and sharply observed novel, The Homecoming is as revelatory as James Cooks exploration of distant frontiers and as richly rewarding as Elizabeths love for her family. With courage and strength, through recollection and imagination, author Anna Enquist brilliantly narrates Elizabeths compelling record of her life, painting a psychological portrait of an independent woman ahead of her time and closely acquainted with history.

Reviews

This latest novel from the bestselling Dutch author is a long, lyrical meditation on mourning and identityLike an 18th-century still life, this luminous novel captures in heartbreaking detail both the vibrancy of life and the poignancy of decay and loss. Historical Novel Society [Anna Enquists] best, most comprehensive, and most touching novel. NRC Handelsblad (The Netherlands) A surprising and touching novel about the loss of children; about a ruined union between a man and a woman; and, above all, about the inadequacy of facts in helping to understand people. Haarlems Dagblad (The Netherlands) Elizabeth is drawn so that shes completely understandable even though the problems she faces are not of our time. She is more than a seamans wife left behind to care for the family. Sitting at home, shes almost as much of an explorer as her husband, and on one point she outdoes him: as a survivor, as a fighter against death. In the end, she knew more than James Cook about the nakedness of existence. Max Pam, HP/De Tijd (The Netherlands) Elizabeth, the wife of the seafaring explorer James Cook, had six children, and each one of them died. Three of the five boys succumbed to illness; the other two were lost at sea; and Elly, the only girl, was run over by a coach. Anna Enquist uses the difficult life of this captains wife, who herself would live to ninety-four, as the premise for her novel The Homecoming. It is a heart-wrenching novel, written with much empathy and psychological ingenuity. Enquist has taken the known biographical facts and made a new story from them using her own vision and denouement. Elizabeth spends most of her long life waiting. Waiting for her husband, who will not return from his third and final journey. Waiting for her sons, too, who will meet with just as disastrous an end while following in his footsteps. Enquist paints a penetrating picture of the inner life of her heroine, who must cope with one blow on top of another and still not throw in the towel. As an eighteenth-century wife, Elizabeth had little input into the decisions of her husband, the Admiralty, and the king of Englandthis much is as clear as day in the novel. Although there are plenty of opportunities for melodrama, The Homecoming steers away from this. There is room for heavy feelings: angst, hope, loss, and anger at all the premature deaths. Apart from describing emotional pain, Enquist also writes about scurvy and exotic cultures and lives. The revelations about the way in which Cook met his end on the Polynesian island of Tahiti are gruesome. OPZIJ (The Netherlands)

Author Bio

Anna Enquist studied piano at the academy of music in The Hague and psychology at Leiden University. She is the author of the novels The Masterpiece; The Secret, winner of the 1997 Dutch Book of the Year awarded by the public; The Ice Carriers; Counterpoint; Quartet; and the international bestseller The Homecoming, which received the Prix du Livre Corderie Royale-Hermione for its French translation. Anna is also the author of A Leap, a collection of dramatic monologues, as well as numerous poetry collections, including Soldiers Songs, for which she was awarded the C. Buddingh Prize; A New Goodbye; and Hunting Scenes, winner of the Lucy B. and C.W. van der Hoogt Prize.