What are your favorite lines or quotes from the book? Why do you think they especially resonated with you?
I liked the extract from Emily’s journal after chapter 33.
“They said we had a choice to stay or leave, but it wasn’t really a choice at all. There is no real choice when both alternatives break your heart.”
I appreciated this because we have all had situations in life that seemed like the lesser of two evils - it is so much preferable to have a choice that is brimming with hope, but that is not always the case.
Then later in that same entry: “We try to set our course and follow our path, struggle and fight to cling to the life we’ve imagined with every ounce of our being, but I now know that the bravest thing to do it to let go, give up the life we wanted to make room for the life we need.”
Again, it has been my experience that one of the hardest things to do is to let go of how you had imagined things would/should be. There were times I thought it took Emily too long to come to this realization, but I know it is very hard to get there.
Sometimes you know in your heart that you have to move on in the most difficult situations. I’ve experienced that when some of my friendships have become toxic. Do I stay, do I speak my truth, do I just stop responding? The guilt can be overwhelming and still haunts me many years later.
Home. I now know, isn’t a place at all. Mountains or ocean, city or prairie - that’s just landscape, the view from the window when you wake. The most desolate place imaginable can feel safer than the prettiest place on earth, as long as those you love are with you.
Finally, I found the answer.
My home is wherever Dorothy is. And Henry. And toto
Home is quite simply, where there is love.