#tillerman

Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt

This is the first in the Tillerman series, and tells the story of Dicey Tillerman, who leads her younger siblings to find their great-aunt after their mother abandons them in a car park at a mall - a journey of hundreds of miles down the east coast of America.

I think I first read it when I was in my early teens, and I've been trying to remember what I thought of it at the time. Did I think it was plausible that a 13 year old could travel hundreds of miles on foot with three younger children, and feed themselves by fishing, digging for clams and mussels, and earning a few dollars along the way? Did the way they got help from strangers seem realistic or unlikely? I suspect I may have filed it under 'only in America' as it's big enough to have some rural and quiet areas - they camp a lot in the countryside and in national parks.

Re-reading it as an adult was interesting. I remember being puzzled why their grandmother wasn't very welcoming, but now I can see that a woman who had an unhappy (and possibly violent) marriage and lost all her children would be wary of offering a home to anyone else. The way the children travel on their own and accept help from complete strangers is startling to read now that I'm a parent.

At one point in the book Dicey mentions that they blend in with other children on summer holidays, who are having fun on the coast without any adults around. It's one of the things that dates the book (published in 1981) - I doubt that four children on their own could do the same journey now without being reported to the authorities straight away. It's a good story, but unsettling in lots of ways.