One Way Home

One Way Home is a poignant, compassionate, and humorous tale of a feisty single mother struggling to raise her two sons - and escape the unwanted attentions of her ex. In this fast, funny and wonderfully original novel, Susan Pepper Robbins, an award-winning writer, gives us a story with a heroine.
Once again, Ruth has found a new job and a new apartment in a new town. Once again, she has enrolled her two boys - Richie, age twelve, and Andrew, age eight - in a new school, after explaining for the umpteenth time why they had to move. And once again, her ex-husband has somehow discovered their new address, and has begun paying the boys surreptitious daytime visits and cooking them lunch while she's at work. Ruth thinks that she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Will Richie ever stop harassing her - in his best rapper's voice - for being an "early-stage alcoholic"? Will Andrew ever stop whining about getting a dog? And most important, will her ex-husband ever leave her alone for long enough so that she can have a normal life and do normal things, like go out on a date?
Welcome to the joys of parenting, nineties style. In One Way Home, Susan Pepper Robbins takes us on a quirky engaging, and frequently uproarious roller-coaster ride through one single mother's life - the pitfalls, the pratfalls, and the uphill struggle for some degree of sanity. Here is a novel that will touch the heart and tickle the funny bone of anyone who has ever experienced the ups and downs of family life.

Robbins's truthful and often engaging debut novel is an empathetic take on the plight of harried single parents who work full time. Frazzled narrator Ruth is a classic case. She has just found a new administrative job in a home for the elderly in Richmond, Va., and moved there with her sons, ages eight and 12, in an attempt to escape her exasperating ex-husband, Rich. Many similar moves have occurred over the six years since the couple's divorce, but Rich doggedly follows his brood, reappearing at each new apartment to charm his sons. To Ruth, who remembers a marriage ruined by alcohol and infidelity, Rich signifies perpetual frustration; to the boys, who notice Ruth's shortcomings as a mother, Rich is a model dad who arrives to serve home-cooked lunches and surprises them with the puppies Ruth says they can't have. Ruth finds a moderate amount of humor in her disheartening experiences, but this painfully honest book proves as likely to aggravate as to amuse. Disorienting flashbacks, a lengthy dream sequence, and a corny resolution detract from the narrative's veracity. Overall, however, Robbins's spunky heroine succeeds in conveying one woman's determination to reestablish control of her life.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

For six years following her divorce, Ruth McFall has been on the move with her two sons, Richie and Andrew. The daughter of an alcoholic, Ruth grapples with unresolved issues and has not grown beyond the split from her thrill-seeking ex-husband. Each time she settles into a new place, Rich finds her and establishes unwanted contact with the boys, forcing the family to move on. But this time things are different. Ruth befriends a female doctor, and her sons become close to the doctor's adopted son. At her sons' urging, Ruth begins dating a nice man and allows her boys to have a pet. After weathering a crisis, Ruth becomes reconciled to her past and eventually meets with Rich. Robbins writes convincingly of a single mother's quest to raise her sons, conveying the shortcomings, insecurities, and triumphs of Ruth's life. Compelling in an understated way, this novel is recommended for public libraries.
- Kimberly G. Allen, National Assn. of Home Builders Lib., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.