Calling Me Home

Preview

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Adding to library failed

Please try again

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.

Try for £0.00

More purchase options

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

A moving love story inspired by a true story and perfect for fans of The Help

In a time of hate, would you stand up for love?

Shalerville, Kentucky, 1939. A world where black maids and handymen are trusted to raise white children and tend to white houses, but from which they are banished after dark.

Sixteen-year-old Isabelle McAllister, born into wealth and privilege, finds her ordered life turned upside down when she becomes attracted to Robert, the ambitious black son of her family’s housekeeper. Before long Isabelle and Robert are crossing extraordinary, dangerous boundaries and falling deeply in love.

Many years later, eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle will travel from her home in Arlington, Texas, to Ohio for a funeral. With Isabelle is her hairstylist and friend, Dorrie Curtis – a black single mother with her own problems. Along the way, Isabelle will finally reveal to Dorrie the truth of her painful past: a tale of forbidden love, the consequences of which will resound for decades . . .

‘If Julie Kibler's novel Calling Me Home were a young woman, her grandmother would be To Kill a Mockingbird, her sister would be The Help and her cousin would be The Notebook. But even with such iconic relatives, Calling Me Home stands on her own’ Wiley Cash, New York Times bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home

‘Julie Kibler’s writing is so wise and assured. I laughed out loud in places and had tears in my eyes as I turned the last page’ Diane Chamberlain

'If you liked The Help by Kathryn Stockett, you’ll absolutely love Calling Me Home' Red magazine

Julie KiblerBahni TurpinLorna RaverMacmillan Digital Audio

African American

Contemporary Fiction

Fiction

Genre Fiction

Historical

Historical Fiction

Multicultural

Heartfelt

Tear-jerking

Emotionally Gripping

African American Contemporary Fiction Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Multicultural Heartfelt Tear-jerking Emotionally Gripping

Critic reviews

‘You’d never guess that Calling Me Home is a debut novel, Julie Kibler’s writing is so wise and assured. Although the two strong women she’s created come from completely different backgrounds, the bond that grows between them is extraordinary, touching and believable. I laughed out loud in places and had tears in my eyes as I turned the last page. I can’t wait to watch Julie Kibler’s star rise!’ Diane Chamberlain

‘If Julie Kibler's novel Calling Me Home were a young woman, her grandmother would be To Kill a Mockingbird, her sister would be The Help and her cousin would be The Notebook. But even with such iconic relatives, Calling Me Home stands on her own; this novel uncovers a painful past that tells us so much about who we are, where we're going, and the people who are traveling with us’ Wiley Cash, bestselling author of A Land More Kind Than Home

'A wonderful debut; thought provoking, heart breaking yet redemptive. Utterly compulsive' Irish Examiner

‘Before I started reading Calling Me Home, I knew that this was Pan Macmillan’s lead fiction debut of 2013, and that Warner Bros had snapped up the film rights, but nothing prepared me for the overwhelming roller coaster of emotions induced by the astonishingly talented Julie Kibler’s debut novel . . . I cried, and I cried, and after I’d finished crying I cried a bit more. And when people asked what was wrong when I arrived at Fabulous HQ the next day, complete with puffy eyes and blotchy skin, I muttered something incomprehensible about a book that I’d finished reading the night before. In short: Calling Me Home left me speechless. So be prepared to embark on a heart-rending journey during which you will laugh, cry and stare astonished at the very words on the page. No words can quite pinpoint the magic and resonance of this incredible novel, so all that I can say is: you must read this!’ Fabulous magazine

'A beautiful story, beautifully told. The quality of the writing is first class. Whenever I put it down, I always looked forward to coming back to it and I'm sad to have finished it. What I particularly liked was the lack of mawkishness in the book. Both the main characters are very likeable and not in the least martyred despite all they've been through. By the end, they felt like friends to me; two women whose company and whose stories I thoroughly enjoyed. The difficult subject of racism was dealt with face-on, but at the same time handled with the lightest of touches.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am already recommending it to friends' Louise Douglas, Bestselling Author

‘This touching tale covers the same difficult subject of racism and segregation in 20th-centuary America as The Help. But it’s a much more human and personal book… A sad but life-affirming book’ Bella

‘Based on a true story, fans of the The Help will be enthralled by this emotional read' Prima

Most relevant

Wow, I thoroughly enjoyed this book of the road trip with Miss Isa and Dory on their way to the funeral. The book was spent going over the life of Isabelle who experienced the most awful prejudices from the people who should have loved her.
Sorry to get on my soap box for a rant but America was a racist paradise through the twentieth century. The way blacks were treated in a century when we thought we had moved forward from slavery is appalling. Read Small Island by Andrea Levy if you disagree.

The narrators truly bought this story to life, I loved the older gentle voice of Isabelle reflecting on her youth and as for Dory what a beautiful southern lilt, I could listen for hours. ( I remembered her voice from The Help)

Some reviewers compare it to The Help but is very different and each has its merits.try the above mentioned book if you enjoy this sort of writing.

The crossword puzzle book of clues threading through the book that Isabelle and Dory completed during the road trip was a clever element which cemented the intent of chapters

I laughed and cried throughout this tale, although the latter was unfortunately more prevalent and by the final chapters I felt I knew Miss Isabelle like a family member.