House and Home
By Kathleen McCleary

Booklist:

Ellen can stand losing her husband. With his weird inventions and obsession with magic tricks, he has ignored family finances and sent them plummeting into financial hell. It is the loss of the beloved home that she has decorated so lovingly over the years that threatens to shatter her. The fact that her daughters don’t want to leave the house, either, only adds to Ellen’s sorrow. To make matters worse, the perky new owner shows up early to measure windows, check out the walls, and make notes for her contractor. As this oblivious woman rambles on about the changes she is going to make, it becomes obvious to Ellen what she needs to do. In McCleary’s poignant, gently humorous novel, the characters seem utterly alive, and the locations are exquisitely described. This book also has one of the best opening paragraphs in recent memory, and is altogether so superior it’s hard to believe that it’s a debut. Readers who enjoy fine women’s fiction, such as Mary Alice Monroe’s Sweetgrass (2005), will be delighted to discover this new author.

Publishers Weekly:

After initiating a separation from her husband—whose repellently named invention, the splotch-catching “hot dog diaper,” has bankrupted them—Ellen Flanagan, faced with supporting two young daughters, makes the levelheaded decision to sell the family home in the suburbs of Portland, Ore., to pay off debts and keep her business (a smalltown coffee shop) afloat. One daughter takes the change in stride, another plots to disrupt the sale, and Ellen soon finds herself struggling with her own deep feelings for the house. Obnoxious buyers make things worse, and lurking behind all her preparations to move is the possibility—alternately tempting and unsettling—of reconciling with husband Sam, who seems blindsided and bewildered. HGTV.com columnist McCleary’s tale of real estate woe (plus a little entrepreneurship gone wrong) will resonate with unhappy homeowners, as will her portrait of a regular woman pushed to extremes trying to do the right thing for her family.

Ladies Home Journal:

At 44, Ellen Flanagan has almost everything -- two sweet daughters, a sexy husband who adores her, a loyal best friend, and a thriving business that she runs on her own terms. But she's about to lose her beloved house due to some bad business decisions on the part of her absent-minded inventor husband, Sam -- and the loss is breaking her heart. What makes things even worse is that the new owners, Jordan and her husband Jeffrey, have some renovating and redecorating plans that Ellen finds impossible to accept.

To say that Ellen can't move on is an understatement -- so much so that she's divorcing Sam, whom she can't forgive for getting them into this situation. She's also willing to sell coffee@home, the funky coffee shop she owns and runs, in order to buy back the house. Her big problem: The contract has been signed, and Jordan loves the house (major renovation plans aside) and won't give it up.

Ellen's efforts to keep her house are what move the story crisply along. House & Home is a highly enjoyable read, and while the characters are not entirely believable, they certainly are likeable. At a certain point, one can't help wanting to shake Ellen and say "Get a grip! There are other houses in the world." Her single-mindedness starts to seem a little weird. Okay, the house is central to her role as a mother. In fact, the house almost seems like a member of the family, the way it's been loved and nurtured. It's where she brought her two daughters home from the hospital, suffered a miscarriage, and raised her children. But people, and your relationship with them, are more important than bricks and mortar. This is a lesson that Ellen eventually learns, after a dramatic turn of events puts her at risk of losing everything she values most.

Joanna Scott, author of Liberation and Everybody Loves Somebody:

At the center of Kathleen McCleary’s impressive debut novel is a woman who risks destroying everything she has lovingly arranged just so someone else can’t have it.  House and Home is a riveting book, packed with wit, dramatic twists, powerful consequences, and pitch-perfect details.

Leslie Schnurr, author of The Dog Walker and Late Night Talking:

Kathleen McCleary has written a funny and poignant novel, featuring a wonderfully flawed heroine, about how a house can define who we are, and what we think about our lives and ourselves.  I laughed out loud and was moved by this realistic portrayal of marriage, family and love.