The Distance Home - Pub Week Review

Review by Darcie Czajkowski

There’s more to everyone than meets the eye. That’s the lesson that Emma Metz learns when she returns to her Maryland hometown following the sudden death of her father. As an only child, Emma is tasked with sorting through her father’s house and affairs. In the course of preparing his apartment for sale, Emma finds letters between him and someone she was close to during her childhood. She is shocked to find real emotion in the correspondence, something that was sorely lacking between her and her father throughout her life. And she starts to wonder: Is everything she thought she knew about her father a lie?

While Emma tries to make sense of her relationship with her father, she also revisits Jumping Frog Farm, the place where she fell in love with horses. The farm was her safe haven during her childhood. Until the accident. Until she was sent away. Emma is now forced to confront fractured relationships, the horses she left behind, and her current fast-paced life in Chicago.

And she must decide: Is the life she has the one she wants, or did she make a wrong turn somewhere along the road?

In “The Distance Home,” Orly Konig brings to life issues to which many of us can relate: the revelation of a long-held family secret, confronting a broken friendship, the death of a parent or loved one, and internal conflict about one’s path in life. Though I found the ending to be foreseeable, it also felt right given Emma’s journey. This story is filled with laughter and tears, real emotion, and genuine characters. The author does a wonderful job of creating vivid imagery, placing the reader at the place and time of the characters. You don’t have to love horses like Emma to appreciate the lessons taught in “The Distance Home.”

Purchase the book at:

Amazon * Barnes&Noble

About the author:

After years in the corporate world (most of it in the space industry), ORLY KONIG took a leap into the creative world of fiction. She is the founding president of the Womens Fiction Writers Association and an active member of the Writers in the Storm blog. She lives in Maryland with her family. The Distance Home is her first novel.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter