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The Homemade God

The Homemade God

A Novel

About the Book

With sparkling wit and insight, this powerful new novel from the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry reminds us that family is everything, even when it falls apart.

There is a heatwave across Europe, and four siblings have gathered at their family’s lake house to seek answers about their father, a famous artist, who recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his long-awaited masterpiece.

Now he is dead. And there is no sign of his final painting.

As the siblings try to piece together what happened, they spend the summer in a state of lawlessness: living under the same roof for the first time in decades, forced to confront the buried wounds they incurred as his children, and waiting for answers. Though they have always been close, the things they learn that summer—about themselves, and their father—will drive them apart before they can truly understand his legacy. Meanwhile, their stepmother’s enigmatic presence looms over the house. Is she the force that will finally destroy the family for good?

Wonderfully atmospheric, at heart this is a novel about the bonds of siblinghood—what happens when they splinter, and what it might take to reconnect them.
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Praise for The Homemade God

“The Homemade God has all the flexed, pacey tautness of a thriller, even though at its heart it’s a quiet story about grief.”—Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich

“It’s all here, dear readers. Art. Beauty. Pain. Redemption. Rachel Joyce’s emotional scope is dazzling. Brava!”—Adriana Trigiani, author of The Good Left Undone

“With humor and compassion, Joyce paints a complex portrait of a family with all of its baggage, eccentricities, charm, and heartbreak. Beautiful.”—Eowyn Ivey, author of Black Woods Blue Sky

“Powerful and complex . . . I was left almost breathless.”—Clover Stroud, author of The Red of My Blood

“A novel full of insights about family and the need to break free of the past and be your own person. The Italian villa by the lake is one of the most dreamy settings, so vivid I was swimming in that lake.”—Georgina Moore, author of The Garnett Girls

“Brilliantly drawn characters, an incredibly atmospheric setting, and the most gripping plot: The Homemade God is a thought-provoking exploration of the nature and purpose of art and probably the wisest and most insightful study of sibling rivalry I’ve ever read.”—Matt Cain, author of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle

“The Homemade God makes you identify with every family member, in their loves, struggles, and pain, just as their author-creator shows her own beautiful heart and joyful talent. What a grown-up delight.”—Laline Paull, author of The Bees

“Joyce’s clever narrative lured me out onto this tightrope from the first few pages and kept me teetering, deliciously, until the end. The Handmade God does everything you want a novel to do: move and touch and challenge you.”—Sarah Leipciger, author of Moon Road

“Sparkling and addictive . . . Rachel Joyce is so incredibly good and wise on families and siblings, pacing out a story’s secrets so that you have to read one more page.”—Harriet Evans, author of The Stargazers

“The Homemade God is an enthralling, thought-provoking, layered novel, seamed with a delicious dark humour.”—Sarah Winman, author of Still Life

“Lyrical, shrewd and, ultimately, as indecently satisfying as a four-course Italian lunch . . . My life is a little emptier now that it’s over.”—Patrick Gale, author of A Place Called Winter

“Another triumph of insight and empathy!”—Clare Chambers, author of Small Pleasures

“The Homemade God is a beautiful portrayal of family, art, and the things we inherit from our parents, both creative and emotional. It’s a wonderful piece of storytelling.”—Hannah Beckerman, author of The Forgetting

“Gripping, atmospheric, psychologically rich storytelling that gets to the absolute heart of parental love and loss.”—Emily Howes, author of The Painter’s Daughters
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About the Author

Rachel Joyce

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, and Perfect. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was short-listed for the Commonwealth Book Prize and long-listed for the Man Booker Prize and has been translated into thirty-six languages. Joyce was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards New Writer of the Year in 2012. She is also the author of the digital short story A Faraway Smell of Lemon and is the award-winning writer of more than thirty original afternoon plays and classic adaptations for BBC Radio 4. Rachel Joyce lives with her family in Gloucestershire.

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