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:
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:
