Review of THE HOMEMADE GOD by Rachel Joyce (New Release)

 4 Stars

Much of this family drama is set at a beautiful but decaying villa on an island in Lake Orta in northern Italy.

Four siblings – Netta, Susan, Goose, and Iris, aged between 33 and 40 – gather at the villa after the sudden death of their father, Vic Kemp. Vic, a commercially successful artist, had recently married Bella-Mae, a woman 50 years his junior, and then left London for Italy to work on what he claimed was going to be his life’s masterpiece. When they arrive, the siblings can find no sign of a will or of the painting. Fearing that Bella-Mae may have played a role in Vic’s death, they insist on an autopsy and stay at the villa to await the results. They are joined by their stepmother and her cousin Laszlo. The time spent together after their father’s death forces them to confront their pasts. What they learn about themselves and their father ends up tearing them apart.

I really appreciated how the three sisters and their brother emerge as fully differentiated characters. Each has secrets and scars from past wounds. There are flashbacks to pivotal events that shaped them. Netta, the eldest, was forced into a parental role at an early age after the death of their mother. She wants to be in charge and is quick to anger. Susan has always wanted to be like Netta but resents living in her shadow. Susan’s entire life seems to be a compromise as she settled for second-best. Goose (Gustav) is artistic but believes that creating his own art led to his mental breakdown so he’s a lost soul. Iris, praised by her father for her ability to be still, is withdrawn and anxious.

Vic is present only in flashbacks, but it’s obvious he, with his larger-than-life personality, was someone impossible to ignore. He was a narcissist who needed to be the centre of everyone’s attention. Such a self-centred individual is not the best of fathers. He hired au pairs to look after his children and did virtually nothing to support or encourage them to pursue their dreams. Only as an adult does Goose realize “the acute loneliness of those four children, staring up into other people’s houses while their father worked, waiting for the lights to come on.” I found it difficult to like Vic but it’s understandable that his four children adored him; having lost their mother, they clung to their father. Their relationship was not healthy but makes sense given the circumstances and Vic’s domineering personality.

The four lived in the shadow of Vic’s ego and were negatively affected by his focus on himself. After his death, the adult children physically travel to Italy but also take journeys of self-discovery. They are forced to realize things about their difficult father that they denied or repressed. Their lives were stunted by their father; though of an adult age, they have not actually grown up. It’s only his death that allows them to realize their potential. It is Vic’s treatment of Goose that is particularly shocking though perhaps understandable given Vic’s obsession with being recognized as an artist.

I’ve enjoyed many of Rachel Joyce’s novels (The Music Shop, Miss Benson’s Beetle, and the Harold Fry trilogy) so looked forward to reading her latest. I was not disappointed. It explores how children’s lives can be shaped well into adulthood and how family relationships can be fractured and, hopefully, mended.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.