They Almost Always Come Home

Have you ever been at a difficult place in your relationship with your spouse? Perhaps wondering if it really mattered to you if your relationship survived?

For today's book review, I have the privilege of recommending a book from an author I know well. She's one of my dearest friends, and I'm so thrilled to recommend her debut novel They Almost Always Come Home.

In They Almost Always Come Home, debut author Cynthia Ruchti puts to pen and paper what many women don’t dare say aloud. Libby’s story lets the reader into the thought process of a woman who wonders if her husband’s delayed return from a Canadian wilderness trip means he’s left her or if he’s lost, or worse, dead.

Libby gives a voice to every woman who has ever wondered if her marriage was worth saving, wondered if her husband cared, and wondered if she wanted him to care. She’s the woman so lost in the darkness of grief and emotional pain that she hasn’t considered her husband’s dreams or fully embraced her own. As Libby, her best friend, and her father-in-law canoe and portage their way through the wilderness in search of Greg, Libby finds her way through the spiritual wilderness she’s drifted in for so long.

They Almost Always Come Home has just the right balance of serious moments, heartfelt emotion, witty dialogue, and humor. Ruchti has a fresh style and voice as a writer. The story is told in first person present tense, so it’s easy for the reader to feel part of the action as it happens. The book has enough mystery to keep the reader hooked from the first page to the last, with a few surprises most readers will never suspect.

There is nothing predictable or formulaic about this book and that places it above so much of the fiction on the market. If Ruchti continues to deliver fresh fiction packed with hope and real faith, she’ll have loyal readers for a long time.