When their mother dies, 16 yr old Carly and 12 yr old Jen are left all alone in the world. Fearing that the authorities will take them into care and split them up, Carly decides that their best hope is to return to their step-father, Teddy. She feels that he is dependable and trustworthy. Jen has different ideas, but Carly is older, considers herself to be in charge and won't listen. So they set off, walking and hitch-hiking, from New Mexico through Arizona towards Cailfornia.
Walk Me Home is, in essence, a coming of age novel. Carly is a typical teenager who believes that she is always right- and anyone who disagrees with her must be, at best, mistaken. In the course of her journeying, she comes to see that this can't always be the case and that sometimes admitting that you don't know the answer to everything is the beginning of knowledge.
It's very readable and although there's a feeling that Carly WILL reach her destination, there's a lot of doubt about what she'll find there, so I just had to keep turning the pages till I found out. Having said that, I didn't feel it had the depth of characterisation that I like in a novel and the ending was just a little too predictable - a good holiday read though. Although ostensibly an adults' novel, I feel this may appeal to older teens as well.
Maryom's review - 4 stars
Publisher - Black Swan (Transworld)
Genre - adult fiction, road trip Buy Walk Me Home
from Amazon
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