Finding Our Way Home: A Novel

“Finding Our Way Home,” written by Charlene Ann Baumbich, is an enjoyable book that will leave the reader feeling hopeful and inspired! Sasha returns to her childhood home to recover from an injury that has ended her career as a principal ballerina. Needing an aide, she hires Evelyn, a recent high school graduate who is the opposite of Sasha. However, as time goes on, Sasha and Evelyn learn that they are alike as they are trying to discover themselves and find where they fit in the world. Evelyn is a sponge for knowledge and is constantly reading and learning, yet she is hesitant to go to college as she is unsure of what she should be doing at this point in her life and she has dreams of life with her fiancee much to her parents’ dismay. Sasha is trying to forget about her former life and heal even if it means cutting her husband of thirteen years out of her life. Both Sasha and Evelyn grow, learn, and discover that life does allow second chances and God’s grace is abundant. I was immediately drawn into the story! Baumbich writes with such vivid details including visual imagery as well as sounds and smells; the scenes are all painted so clearly that I felt as if I was transported to Wanonishaw. Evelyn and Sasha are such well-developed and realistic characters that it was so easy to empathize with them as they dealt with every day struggles as well as taking big decisions. The dynamics between the characters, for example, Evelyn and her father or Evelyn and Jorden, were very real as well and elements of their relationships can be related to by many if not all readers. This is an uplifting read that is easy to get into and at the end you will be sad to leave the characters’ lives, but you will be left feeling happy as well.