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How to Find Your Way Home : Book summary and reviews of How to Find Your Way Home by Katy Regan

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How to Find Your Way Home

by Katy Regan

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Published Feb 2022 368 pages Genre: Literary Fiction Publication Information

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Book summary.

What if the person you thought you'd lost forever walked back into your life? A warm, uplifting novel about the unshakable bond between siblings, and what happens when a sister discovers her long-missing brother in the most unexpected place, from the author of Little Big Love .

Emily has been looking for the same face in every crowd for more than a decade: her brother's. She'll do anything to find him, she just never expects that one day he will walk through the door of the London housing office where she works, homeless and in need of help. Emily's overjoyed to see Stephen—her older brother, her hero, the one who taught her to look for the flash of a bird's wings and instilled in her a love and respect for nature's wonders—and invites him to live with her. But the baggage of the day that tore them apart, more than fifteen years before, is heavy. As they attempt to rebuild their relationship, they embark on the birding adventure they'd always promised to take when they were just children running wild in the wetlands of Canvey Island. And so, amid the soft, familiar calls of the marsh birds, they must finally confront what happened that June day—and in all the days since—if they are to finally find their way home.

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Reader reviews.

"Regan's moving if heavy-handed latest (after Little Big Love ) turns on a family's hardships and the unconditional love between siblings...While this doesn't quite soar from its formulaic trappings, it has plenty of moments of uplift." - Publishers Weekly "An incomplete redemption arc mars an otherwise strong story about how even well-intentioned lies can destroy lives." - Kirkus Reviews " How to Find Your Way Home is a well-crafted, compelling family drama that explores the meaning of home with care and grace. A must-have for contemporary shelves." - Booklist

...24 more reader reviews

Author Information

Katy Regan was brought up in a seaside town in northern England. She studied at the University of Leeds before moving to London, where she worked as a journalist and as a commissioning editor at Marie Claire magazine. Katy has written four books published in the U.K. Little Big Love was her U.S. debut.

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Thursday, February 17, 2022

Book review: how to find your way home.

I’m lucky enough to live in one of the most vibrant cities in Florida—St. Petersburg, which has a thriving downtown area on Tampa Bay and miles of beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. Among the sidewalk cafes, the outdoor music venues, the public parks, the bike paths and the sandy shores is a common problem to all areas—unhoused people living on the streets. We have thousands of them in Pinellas County; some who are local to the poorer side of the city, some who were drawn to Florida for the milder climate. Our social services aren’t enough to help them. When they panhandle outside of fancy restaurants or at intersections, they’re a constant reminder of the growing gap between the haves and have-nots. And they create a personal dilemma for everyone who sees them. Is giving money really helpful, or will they spend it on booze and alcohol? Is this person truly without a home, or do they make more money panhandling than waiting tables? If I put something in his cup, will he harass me for more? 

And the biggest questions of all: What happened in this person’s life to put him on the streets? Doesn’t he have a family who loves him? Could this happen to me?

British author Katy Regan tackles these questions in her latest novel, How to Find Your Way Home . Like her U.S. debut, Little Big Love (reviewed here ), Regan looks at societal issues from the close-up lens of one small, grieving family. 

For years, Emily has been searching for her older brother Stephen, who’s been living on the streets of London since he got out of jail. In fact, she even chose a career in housing assistance in the hope that one day he’d walk through those doors. And eventually, he does. But it’s not all sunshine and roses when the siblings reunite. Even though Stephan accepts Emily’s offer to move in with her, the years of hard living have taken a toll on him. And although Emily loves her brother unconditionally, she’s not thrilled about cigarette smoke in her spotless flat. With a troubled past between them, Emily and Stephen need to confront family secrets before they can truly be each other’s home.

Told in alternating third-person points-of-view and time periods, How to Find Your Way Home is much more Stephen’s story than Emily’s. We first see him as a rambunctious toddler, anxious to meet his new baby sister and taking his father’s words of protection to heart. Later, after their mother leaves their father to marry a war hero, Stephen becomes obsessed with birding—a hobby his new stepfather unfortunately finds too passive. The stepfather’s bullying behaviors cause a chain reaction that eventually leaves Stephen on the streets, estranged from his family.

With his ornithology fixation and complicated relationships and backstory, Stephen feels like a very specific, well-drawn character. Emily is less so—other than her unwillingness to commit to a romantic relationship, her whole life feels like it’s about her brother. If he hadn’t been homeless, what kind of career would she have pursued? She never asks herself, and the reader never gets to know her beyond being Stephen’s sister.

The sections of the book dealing with Stephen’s homelessness are the most gripping in the novel. The book starts with Stephen trying to wash in a Starbucks bathroom, and nearly getting arrested for trespassing. Everywhere he goes, he is treated like something less than human. It’s no wonder that he turned to alcohol to numb the pain, and struggles mightily to stay sober. 

However, for me, the specifics of Stephen’s story made it easier to see him as different from the unhoused people who live in my city. Stephen, the author seems to say, is a victim of a selfish mother and an uncaring government. The book’s climax reveals that he is not only blameless for his situation, but a martyr. 

There’s an old saying about using fiction to make a point: If you want to send a message, use Western Union. (As I said, it’s an old saying.) But when an author chooses to tackle an important social issue, it’s hard not to see messaging in the story. Regan is a strong writer, and her previous book, Little Big Love , showed enormous empathy toward single mothers, folks in poverty, and people struggling with excessive weight. In How to Find Your Way Home , I’m afraid that by making Stephen so sympathetic, she’s made it easier to blame real people who find themselves unhoused due to more common factors.

In any case, the global pandemic, worldwide housing shortage, and unprecedented inequality has left more people living on the streets than ever. If Regan prompts just one reader to offer a helping hand rather than a scornful glance, she’ll have done more toward solving the problem than many governments have. 

Thanks to Berkley for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: How to Find Your Way Home by Katy Regan

HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY HOME

By: Katy Regan

Published: February 15, 2022

Publisher: Berkley

I love sibling stories and this one of siblings reconnecting after a horrible incident in their childhood gave me all the warm-hug feelings. Siblings Stephen and Emily were the best of friends, doing everything together, including watching the birds. Stephen has a passion for birds, especially the Swifts, who migrate back to their English village the same week every year. Emily and Stephen would spend many hours in the marshes watching the birds, sometimes even with their dad. When the mum and dad get a divorce and their mum marries their dad’s best friend, the family dynamics are never the same.

Emily, now an adult, and working for a housing agency that helps homeless people, hopes every day to see her brother walk through their front doors. You see, Stephen has been homeless ever since he was released from prison several years ago. Emily hasn’t seen him since she was in college and doesn’t like to think about the day that Stephen was sent to prison. Instead, so hopes that someday, she will be able to be the heroic sister that gets him back on his feet.

Stephen hasn’t been able to get a footing on life since his four years in prison. Drugs and alcohol wreaked havoc on his life and he’s been living life on the streets ever since. When he realizes he can’t take another day of it and there is more to life than street life, he takes a chance on walking into the local housing agency for some help.

The event that led to Stephen going to prison is alluded to throughout the story, but you don’t get a full grasp of the event until nearly the end of the novel. What led up to that event and the final incident have affected their whole family ever since. Forgiveness is a large theme in this story and one that isn’t so easily given.

“Stephen has spent so long yearning for his mum, for her love and forgiveness, that now, even if she were to forgive him, he was starting to wonder if he could forgive her.” Katy Regan, HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY HOME

As a bird lover, I enjoyed the explanations of the various birds and Stephen and Emily’s Bird Bucket List. I actually wasn’t sure what a Swift was so I had to look them up. They remind me of a barn swallow here in Iowa. But, his passion for birds and his deep love for his sister warmed me to Stephen and I made me root for him in the story. Emily’s grandiose living surprised me and made me a bit curious about her, but when the story comes together in the end, it all makes sense.

A lot of the story is told in flashbacks to Stephen and Emily’s childhood intermixed with the present day. There is a lot of pain and hurt in this family and it manifests itself in adulthood in many ways. Emily can’t seem to stay with a guy for more than a few months. Stephen can’t stop living on the streets. Their dad has moved on with a new family and the mum is stuck in a neverending cycle and can’t find a way out. When one final secret comes out, there is the fear that everything that the story has built up to will be for naught. But, I appreciated how Regan brought the story to a conclusion. I wasn’t sure I could handle any more disappointment at the end. So, even though the ending isn’t sad, it’s left open and hopeful of a future with no more secrets and lots of healing.

Fans of family dramas, stories with long-held secrets, and characters to root for will enjoy Regan’s newest fiction novel set in her home, the United Kingdom. For more about the author, check out Katy Regan’s website, HERE .

To purchase a copy of HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY HOME, click the photo below:

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Thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. This review is my honest opinion. If you choose to make a purchase through the above links, I may receive a small commission without you having to pay a cent more for your purchase.

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HOW TO FIND YOUR WAY HOME

by Katy Regan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 15, 2022

An incomplete redemption arc mars an otherwise strong story about how even well-intentioned lies can destroy lives.

After 19 years apart, a sister and brother find each other once again.

As an adult in her early 30s, Emily Adele Nelson seems to have it all—a gorgeous garden flat in London, a handsome boyfriend of five months, and a well-paying job at the local housing office that allows her to help people, even if it feels like there are even more people she isn't able to help. But everything isn’t as it seems—her flat doesn’t feel like a home, and she's constantly on the lookout for her older brother, Stephen, a one-time prison inmate who is currently—she thinks—homeless. And then one day she hears his voice speaking to another person in her office, but when she rushes to see if it really is him, he’s gone. With the scraps of information he's left behind, she's able to locate him and convince him to come stay with her. Author Regan has split the story into two streams. One progresses from Emily’s birth in 1987 to the culminating event in 1999 that separated her from her brother, and the other progresses forward from March 2018, just before she finds him once again. The story includes chapters told in three points of view: third person, and those of Stephen and Emily. The story is centered around the friendship and love between the siblings as they reconnect and the love of bird-watching that has been Stephen’s savior for the decades he’s been unmoored from what is typically considered a normal life. However, after a lengthy windup to the climax of the story—just what happened on that day so long ago? And what does it mean for the future of these siblings?—the ending somehow feels both rushed and drawn out, with unsatisfying gaps.

Pub Date: Feb. 15, 2022

ISBN: 978-0451490-37-7

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Berkley

Review Posted Online: Nov. 29, 2021

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION

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BOOK REVIEW

by Katy Regan

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

New York Times Bestseller

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

FAMILY LIFE & FRIENDSHIP | GENERAL FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

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by Kristin Hannah

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PERSPECTIVES

BOOK TO SCREEN

by Percival Everett ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2024

One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.

Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as told from the perspective of a more resourceful and contemplative Jim than the one you remember.

This isn’t the first novel to reimagine Twain’s 1885 masterpiece, but the audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain’s epochal odyssey, shifting the central viewpoint from that of the unschooled, often credulous, but basically good-hearted Huck to the more enigmatic and heroic Jim, the Black slave with whom the boy escapes via raft on the Mississippi River. As in the original, the threat of Jim’s being sold “down the river” and separated from his wife and daughter compels him to run away while figuring out what to do next. He's soon joined by Huck, who has faked his own death to get away from an abusive father, ramping up Jim’s panic. “Huck was supposedly murdered and I’d just run away,” Jim thinks. “Who did I think they would suspect of the heinous crime?” That Jim can, as he puts it, “[do] the math” on his predicament suggests how different Everett’s version is from Twain’s. First and foremost, there's the matter of the Black dialect Twain used to depict the speech of Jim and other Black characters—which, for many contemporary readers, hinders their enjoyment of his novel. In Everett’s telling, the dialect is a put-on, a manner of concealment, and a tactic for survival. “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them,” Jim explains. He also discloses that, in violation of custom and law, he learned to read the books in Judge Thatcher’s library, including Voltaire and John Locke, both of whom, in dreams and delirium, Jim finds himself debating about human rights and his own humanity. With and without Huck, Jim undergoes dangerous tribulations and hairbreadth escapes in an antebellum wilderness that’s much grimmer and bloodier than Twain’s. There’s also a revelation toward the end that, however stunning to devoted readers of the original, makes perfect sense.

Pub Date: March 19, 2024

ISBN: 9780385550369

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024

LITERARY FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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by Percival Everett

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Book Review

Runaways, vol. 1: find your way home by rainbow rowell and kria anka.

by Carrie S · Jan 23, 2019 at 3:00 am · View all 3 comments

Runaways, Vol. 1: Find Your Way Home

by Rainbow Rowell

April 18, 2018

More Info →

View Book Info Page

Genre: Comic , Graphic Novel

I know I’m late to the party (again) but I finally read the first volume of Rainbow Rowell’s Runaways  comic book series and I have to share the Squee! Volume #1: Find Your Way Home  collects Issues #1-6 of Rowell’s run. I loved this comic when it first originated with Brian K. Vaughan as the writer. I followed his stories and the subsequent Joss Whedon run but stopped after the Whedon run concluded. I’m overjoyed that Rainbow Rowell and artist Kris Anka have captured everything I love about this series.

By the way, I’ve never seen the TV show. This commentary only applies to the comics.

The original premise of Runaways  was that, while most teens believe that their parents are evil, six teens find out that their parents really are evil. They also discover that many of them (the teens) have super powers, and one of the teens, Gert, establishes a mental link with a genetically engineered Deinonychus named ‘Old Lace.’ Various traumas occur to various team members and by the time the Rainbow Rowell comics start, most of the characters are around 18-21 years old, and the initial conflict (kids vs parents) has been resolved, leaving the team scattered and their goals undefined.

I love this comic for the themes of found family and for the generous mix of humor and zaniness among the action and heartbreak. In Find Your Way Home , Gert wants to “get the gang back together” which means that the characters have decide if they still want to be part of the group, and what that might look like now that the characters are older and are facing new challenges. These challenges include PTSD, grief, survivor guilt, and, in the case of Victor, the fact that he exists only as a cybernetic head. The challenges also include mind-reading cats and a mad scientist grandmother, of whom Molly, the youngest Runaway, says, “She says I’m ‘the triumphant culmination of a lifetime of experimentation.’ She said it in a grandma way! There were cookies!”

Runaways  is also notable for having an inclusive cast. As of Find Your Way Home , two of the team members are male (Chase and Victor). Chase is White and Victor is Hispanic and also a cyborg. Karolina is White (and also an alien), and a lesbian. Nico, who is Asian, is bisexual. Gert is ethnically Jewish and slightly overweight. While the members of the team change periodically, there are always more girls than boys on the team, and they all have realistic body shapes. I won’t spoil who will be joining the team in the near future except to say that this person is African-American (the original line up had one to two African American members depending on the Issue).

The kids don’t wear costumes and although they tried out code names (Gert was ‘Arsenic,’ he code names never stuck. They aren’t even officially known as ‘The Runaways.’ They are just a group of kids and also a dinosaur, who banded together for survival and became family. They also have a lot of romantic tension within the group. Nico and Karolina were together at one point, and so were Gert and Chase, and at one point Gert was with Victor, and now Karolina is with Julie Power.  Rowell is really good at unpacking all these relationships and the fall out from them without letting them completely take over the comic.

Based on my experience, you should be able to jump into this series with the Rowell run. There are two volumes out now which collect Issues #1-12. Rowell comes up with a way to get enough exposition across that a new reader can be comfortable diving in. This also applies to readers like myself, who liked the series back in the day but since then have forgotten everything except the dinosaur. This series works for teens and adults. In the past, the heartbreaking bits have been REALLY heartbreaking and I expect more of the same.

Fair warning! In the meantime, enjoy the snark. It goes well with cookies.

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Runaways, Vol. 1: Find Your Way Home by Rainbow Rowell

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Hadn’t heard about “Runaways” until it popped up on my “if you liked this you might like this” online streaming. I’ve only seen the TV show which I am really enjoying, and if like me you don’t know the comic history it’s still easy to follow. Will seek out the comics though!

WTF whichever artist invented that so-called “Deinoneichus.” Deinoneichus was the size of a German shepherd dog and had feathers! I know, I know, “genetic engineering” blah blah …

So glad that this series is back! Heard that they changed a lot of stuff for the tv series.

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This Is How You Find Your Way Kindle Edition

“Sometimes, getting lost is the greatest act of self-discovery you'll ever embark upon. Let yourself get lost in the city lights and crowded streets. Get lost in the blue skies and wildflowers. Get lost in the layers of yourself that you begin to shed as you start to unearth the deepest parts of your inner being—the parts you thought were gone but were really just waiting to be reclaimed. And maybe getting lost is how you discover where you're truly meant to be. Maybe this is how you find your way.”

In this collection of short prose poetry, Zanna Keithley offers poignant words to accompany you as you step off the worn trails of the past and create your own path—one that’s led by your own beating heart and this inherent knowing deep within that tells you there’s something more out there for you. From remembering your own innate magic and reconnecting with your dreams to letting go of what no longer serves you and taking courageous steps forward, This Is How You Find Your Way acts as a gentle yet empowering travel companion on your journey to creating a beautiful and soul-nourishing life.

• Print length 220 pages
• Language English
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publication date February 6, 2024
• File size 234 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CR9JTB5Q
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 6, 2024
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 234 KB
• Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 220 pages
• #99 in Contemporary Poetry
• #144 in Religious & Inspirational Poetry
• #680 in Inspirational & Religious Poetry (Books)

About the author

Zanna keithley.

Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.

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REVIEW: How to Find Your Way Home

Posted March 17th, 2024 by Sara @HarlequinJunkie in Blog , HJ Top Pick! , Review , Women's Fic - Chick-lit / 6 comments

For Alicia, leaving Tony who by all accounts is a salt of the earth type reliable bloke for Mitch, guaranteed the type of social status as a former beauty queen that she truly deserved. Sadly, for Stephen in particular, Mitch is nothing other than a card carrying example of toxic masculinity, who emotionally abuses him and who attempts to poison Stephen agains his father who taught him to love and understand nature and who fostered Stephen’s rich love of birdwatching.

Millie, 4 years younger than Stephen is aware that her happy family has broken, yet playing the role of good girl and having her big brother as her protector forever enables her to carry on to university and build a comfortable life for herself after a horrific accident that occurred when she was 12. After years of searching, even taking a job in the Housing department, Emily has almost given up hope that she will one day find Stephen again who spent 4 years in prison and who has ended up a homeless addict, until of course, she hears his voice in the office next to hers searching for accommodation.

Developing tension slowly, almost desperately to mirror Millie’s response to finding Stephen and her attempts at keeping hold of him, we journey back and forward from their childhood to understand the true extent of their relationship and unravel the real reasons for Stephen’s incarceration and subsequent homelessness. Throughout, several assumptions are challenged, and even more so, clear moral dilemmas are presented via Stephen’s lived experience; his emotional abuse by Mitch, his abandonment by his mother and his estrangement from his father who he adored.

For the most part though, we walk alongside Millie who struggles to reconcile her perfectly middle class life with the broken family she has surrounding her and the reasons why she doesn’t really know who she is or where she fits in the world. From start to finish, this was a fantastic read, filled with wonderful snippets of nature, a powerful relationship between brother and sister and a jaw-dropping twist that punctuated every painful moment to make it ring all the more true.

Earthy, poignant and at times ethically challenging, How to Find Your Way Home speaks a clear language of love and loyalty, and with a hard earned happy ever after, this reminds us all that the grass is never greener and to hang on tight to whoever holds our hearts  

When they were children, Emily and her brother Stephen were inseparable. Running wild through the marshes of Canvey Island, it was Stephen who taught her to look for the incandescent flash of a bird’s wings, who instilled within her a love and respect for nature’s wonders. But one June day, their lives came crashing down around them and fate forced them apart.

Fifteen years later, Emily should be happy. She has a sun-filled garden flat, a lovely boyfriend, and a job that is supposed to let her make a difference. But instead she’s lost, always on the lookout for her brother’s face, and worn down, spending her days working at the local housing offices having to turn away more applicants than she can help.

And then one day, her brother walks through the door.

Stephen has been living in and out of shelters for the last decade and the baggage between them is heavy. But Emily is overjoyed to see her brother again and invites him to come live with her. In an attempt to rebuild their relationship, they embark on a birding adventure together. Amid the soft calls of the marsh birds, they must confront the secrets of all that stands between them–even as they begin to realize that home may just be found within.

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6 Responses to “REVIEW: How to Find Your Way Home”

Thanks for the review.

Dianne Casey

Sounds like a great read.

Thanks so much for the review!

Looks like a good insightful book. Thanks for the lovely review, Team HJ!

Sounds different. Thank you for the review.

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