Home Free - Hardcover

Christmas Eve--Kate Hart's husband of twenty-five years has just walked out on her and an old station wagon has broken don in the rain in front of her elegant California home. The driver is a handsome young Iowa farmer. His family needs a home. Kate needs help. An uneasy deal is struck that could make Ford more than Kate's handyman. but Kate doesn't know what she wants. She's discovering some disturbing truths about her husband, her daughter, and most of all, herself. And suddenly, after it safe for so long, Kate is a woman with a daring plan--a plan that will threaten her comfortable world, test her dreams and just might heal her broken heart.

"Moments of sheer human verisimilitude...Well-drawn characters and a plot that snares almost from the first page, make the book hard to set down." -- Booklist

On Christmas Eve, two life-altering events are thrust upon Kate, a traditional middle - class housewife, without warning. Cliff, her husband of 25 years, announces he is leaving her for his old flame. Then, Ford, who is living in a dilapidated station wagon, appears at Kate's doorstep. Having lost their Iowa farm, Ford and his family have moved to California to begin a new life. Desperate for shelter, Ford leaves his wife and children in a seedy hostel for women while he searches for work. When Kate reunites Ford's family under her roof, her life begins anew as she champions the plight of the homeless. As in her earlier novels ( A Woman of Independent Means , LJ 5/25/78; Life Sentences , LJ 5/15/82), Hailey injects a surprising twist in the plot and creates characters who transcend personal crises. Even though the prose is trite at times, Hailey's fans will enjoy this work. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/90.
- Mary Ellen Els bernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.