Elsey Come Home: A Novel
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Elsey Come Home: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Susan Conley (Author), Cassandra Campbell (Narrator), Random House Audio (Publisher)
3.7 3.7 out of 5 stars 137 ratings
Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction
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One of the “best women’s fiction of 2019 (so far)” (Marie Claire)
One of the “61 books we’re looking forward to reading in 2019” (The Huffington Post)
One of the “16 fiction releases to watch for” (Washington Independent Review of Books)
One of the “best new books coming out winter 2019” (Southern Living)
One of the “10 newly-released books that will give you an excuse to stay indoors this winter” (O Magazine)

“I loved, loved this novel.” (Lily King)

From the widely praised author of Paris Was the Place - a shattering new novel that bravely delves into the darkest corners of addiction, marriage, and motherhood.

When Elsey's husband, Lukas, hands her a brochure for a weeklong mountain retreat, she knows he is really giving her an ultimatum: Go, or we're done. Once a successful painter, Elsey set down roots in China after falling passionately for Lukas, the tall, Danish MC at a warehouse rave in downtown Beijing. Now, with two young daughters and unable to find a balance between her identities as painter, mother, and, especially, wife, Elsey fills her days worrying, drinking, and descending into desperate unhappiness. So, brochure in hand, she agrees to go and confront the ghosts of her past.

There, she meets a group of men and women who will forever alter the way she understands herself: from Tasmin, another (much richer) expat, to Hunter, a young man whose courage endangers them all, and, most important, Mei - wife of one of China's most famous artists and a renowned painter herself - with whom Elsey quickly forges a fierce friendship and whose candidness about her pain helps Elsey understand her own.

But Elsey must risk tearing herself and Lukas further apart when she decides she must return to her childhood home - the center of her deepest pain - before she can find her way back to him.

Written in a voice at once wry, sensual, blunt, and hypnotic, Elsey Come Home is a modern odyssey and a quietly dynamic portrait of contemporary womanhood.

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  1. Listening Length
    5 hours and 50 minutes
  2. Author
    Susan Conley
  3. Narrator
    Cassandra Campbell
  4. Audible release date
    January 15, 2019
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Random House Audio
  7. ASIN
    B07LBX5LPQ
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 5 hours and 50 minutes
Author Susan Conley
Narrator Cassandra Campbell
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date January 15, 2019
Publisher Random House Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B07LBX5LPQ
Best Sellers Rank #133,831 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#171 in Contemporary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#2,594 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#4,832 in Women's Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

3.7 out of 5 stars
3.7 out of 5
137 global ratings
Very peculiar and simple novel
3 Stars
Very peculiar and simple novel
The peculiar and utterly uncomplicated story of an American woman’s life as an expat in China attempting to save her marriage and her family from both alcoholism and apathy.When Elsey’s husband hands her a brochure for a week’s solitary getaway in the mountains of China, she knew he was communicating that something had to change. She struggles with alcoholism and life as a mother, so she decided to go and commits herself to coming back changed. Elsey meets a cast of fascinating characters in the mountains of China, but is the retreat enough to save her marriage?Elsey Come Home has got to be one of the most peculiar novels I’ve read to date. Conley’s writing is bemusing at times, but is not altogether unpleasant. The story starts slowly and without clear intention, and the writing takes a while to get comfortable with. As Elsey begins to meet her fellow retreat guests, the story and its significance start to become more clear. Elsey’s relationships with others are the core of this book, and this is my favorite aspect of the story. Overall, I enjoyed Elsey’s strange story, but thought that the tough writing style coupled with the odd story structure somewhat detracted from the overall experience.
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Top reviews from the United States

Elizabeth Kirschner
5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious! Truth-telling!
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2019
Verified Purchase
I finished reading Elsey Come Home this afternoon and with all books I deeply love, I'm sad I've already read in its entirety. This a glad sadness because Elsey is a wonder to read. The short compact chapters are ever so compressed,
as is the dramatic narrative arc. Conley's characters are now a part of me~and through her lucid writing, Ive been given entry into China, a country I've not been to.

"Silk" is the word that kept coming to mind as I poured my heart into this delicious, truth telling book. It reads like silk, tastes like silk. Elsey's conundrum around "the drinking" is accurate and I'm grateful that this is right, as are the children, the husband, Mei, and most importantly our beloved Elsey.

I love books I can thoroughly love and Elsey is one I took on knowing I would wrap at least four pairs of arms around. Prose this translucent is hard to come by. Often, I felt I could reach right through it and see reflected our humanity, or more specifically, the humanity that is particularly female.

E.K.
5 people found this helpful
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Bonnie Brody
3.0 out of 5 stars "Everything you want is right inside you."
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2018
Vine Customer Review of Free Product( What's this? )
Elsey is a woman who is fearful of intimacy and goes so far as to lie or dissociate rather than deal with her emotions. She was once a fairly well-known and respected artist who sold her work regularly. However, after marrying Lukas and having children, she feels like she can't be both a mother and an artist. Instead, she drinks....and then drinks some more. Lukas is beside himself, as the children have grown frightened of Elsey and they are often neglected. He strongly suggests that Elsey go on a retreat to Shashan to help find herself and, in Elsey's mind, become sober.

Currently, they are living in China because Lukas is a musician whose electronic music is very popular there. He has tried to reach out to Elsey in every way possible but is unable to reach her, really reach her. Their marriage is at stake and Lukas hopes this retreat will help save it.

In Shashan, a mountain retreat where she goes for one week, Elsey practices yoga, meditation, and the art of silence. She participates in a talking circle. Most importantly, she meets people with whom she can connect. Others trust her with their secrets but can Elsey trust them with hers. She becomes involved in the lives of some of the other participants and realizes that she has been closed off to her own feeling since the death of her sister Margaret when she was a child. In many ways, Elsey feels responsible for Margaret's death because she was unable to save her from her illness.

I found the characters fairly two-dimensional without any great depth. The story is told in first person from Elsey's perspective and her journal notes. The chapters are truncated and some don't seem to go anywhere. I wished for a richer narrative that let me access the depths of Elsey's emotions and personal growth.
11 people found this helpful
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Justyn Hegreberg
4.0 out of 5 stars Like a Weighted Blanket: Grey, Heavy, and Surprisingly Comforting
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2019
“I thought if you erased yourself from the story you didn’t feel the pain.” In this novel there are a number of characters in the main character’s life: Lukas is the husband and a popular DJ, Ginny is the older sister living in California, Myla is the seven-year-old daughter, and daughter Elisabeth is eight. Elisabeth is the same age as the main character’s younger sister, Margaret, was when she died. It isn’t until page 23 that the reader learns definitively that the main character of Elsey Come Home is named Elsey. Susan Conley wrote the novel as if it were a recollection written by Elsey a year after the events of the novel took place. Elsey started writing it as suggested by the man she pays to ask her questions: her designation for her therapist. It makes sense that a person writing a journal would have no reason to instantly insert their own name. However, I can’t help but feel that the delay reflects the priorities of the main character. Elsey puts everyone else before herself. . . that is, when she isn’t drinking.

I believe that the intense smog in China was only mentioned once. Yet, there is a feeling throughout the novel like one of those therapeutic weighted blankets: grey, heavy, and surprisingly comforting. Elsey’s depression can be described in terms of value as it relates to painting. The entire novel is an even mid-range. No lights. No darks. There isn’t a lot of color either. “Whispering is like black and white. Speaking is like color.” This non sequitur is spoken by Elsey’s daughter before drifting into unconsciousness, and Elsey Come Home is a whisper of a novel. This reserved development makes for what one might call a slow burn if the effect weren’t more like a slow chill. Conley is exceptionally good at giving just the right detail that convinces the reader to fill in everything else for themselves. Kind of like Elsey. This is a quality often found in various short forms of asian poetry. “Her long black hair and neck were thicker than you might expect for someone so thin.” These are the details that the eye catches before the mind takes over.

Elsey likes to drink and paint. She is a represented artist whose work can attain high prices. She also likes her kids, but lately she’s been having a hard time finding a balance between the two. Jung said that “Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children than, the un-lived life of the parent.” Elsey is no exception. So, her husband suggests a retreat in an attempt to save her and their marriage. A week of yoga, meditation, and no drinking. She avoids other expats at the retreat, and often spends time alone. Elsey befriends a famous Chinese painter who’s husband is an even more famous Chinese painter. The group walks through the mountains and talks about their feelings. It is difficult for Elsey, but she starts to get better. “I saw how I could paint the sky, and I hadn’t seen that in years. Then one of the village dogs barked, and I got up from the bed to pee. When I lay back down the color of the sky had changed.” This passage is such a great description of how easy it is to let a moment slip by without acting on it. These moments add up over time and determine the direction of a life.
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Lee Bodkin
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved the honesty of this book and believe it invites important conversations...
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2019
Verified Purchase
While Elsey Come Home delves into the challenges of balancing the roles of wife, mother and career, Susan Conley’s beautifully written book does so much more than that. Elsey is a quirky but also curious character as she narrates her own circuitous journey. Her ability to self-reflect in order to understand how her past is informing her present is done in the most understated and relatable manner. Conley weaves in these beautiful artifacts from Elsey’s past that simmer beneath the evolving plot adding weight to Elsey’s struggles that eventually take center stage as the story approaches the climax.

Conely also bravely puts the issue of women and alcohol front and center with a number of insightful lines about drinking: "It was a gift you give yourself but also a weapon" — "No one else was going to save me." As a woman who has juggled motherhood, marriage and career, I appreciated and loved the honesty of this book, and believe it invites important conversations that so many of us need to have.
4 people found this helpful
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Patricia McGoldrick
2.0 out of 5 stars An unfinished not well developed story
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2019
Verified Purchase
Story ended so flat as in what? Like it was hurry up and tie it up. Character development poor. This a story of an alcoholic who picks a hero and is all better???
2 people found this helpful
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