Review: Homecoming by Tanya Bullock

All that mattered to Rosie, all that had ever really mattered, was that she loved Tom and he loved her. 

Rosie and Tom belong together. For too long, war and its devastating aftermath have kept them apart. Now that Tom has finally returned home, Rosie hopes that they will be able to put the past behind them. 

But when a mysterious sequence of events unfolds, their love is put to the test once more.  With a shocking secret hanging heavily over their relationship, with circumstances conspiring against them at every turn… Rosie and Tom find themselves caught up in the biggest battle of their lives. 

Will their demons ultimately consume them? Or will love conquer all in the end? 

When Rosalie Love at Blackbird Books contacted me, asking if I’d like to read and review Homecoming by Tanya Bullock (published for kindle on 1st April – tomorrow – and only 99p) I was intrigued. It’s billed as “quite possibly the strangest romance ever told” – and as it was only 70 pages long, and there were already some promising and intriguing reviews, I was sure I could find a corner to fit it in.

I’m not always a fan of the novella or short story – they often leave me wanting more. But this simply wonderful story, with its unexpected subject matter and twists and turns as the full story surfaced, was quite perfectly developed. It’s also desperately difficult to review – to give away the story would totally ruin it for others. But the characters are quite perfectly drawn, the way the story is constructed so clever, and I simply adored the way it played with time and perception through its use of memory and the dual timeframe. It was incredibly original too, and emotionally affecting without ever overstepping the mark.

Beautiful – and really wants to make me read more by this highly original author. Well found, Blackbird Books… I look forward to seeing more from you too.

Tanya Bullock is a college lecturer, writer and award-winning filmmaker. She lives in the West Midlands with her husband and two young children. She has a passion for foreign culture and languages (inherited from her French mother) and, in her youth, travelled extensively throughout Australia, America, Asia and Europe. As a filmmaker, she has gained local recognition, including funding and regional television broadcast, through ITV’s First Cut scheme; two nominations for a Royal Television Society Midlands Award, and, in 2010, a Royal Television Society Award in the category of best promotional film. In 2008, she directed a short drama, Second Honeymoon, which was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. 

On maternity leave in 2011 and in need of a creative outlet, Tanya began to write That Special Someone, the story of a mother’s quest to help her learning-disabled daughter find love. It has been longlisted for The People’s Book Prize and The Beryl Bainbridge First Time Author Award 2015/16. 

Follow Tanya on Twitter.