DEAR BOOK CLUB MEMBER, I want to thank you sincerely for choosing Home or Away! I know there are zillions of books worthy of your attention, and I'm always honored when my work makes the book club cut. I also love to participate in book clubs. Invite me! I'll join you virtually or in person if I can. I'll let you in on a secret: just as parents are illadvised to name favorite children, authors are perhaps And, what if the kid not supposed to identify favorite novels. That said, playing the sport was I'm thrilled to share Home or Away. Picture me guiltily the offspring of somewhispering over a glass of wine that it's my best work one who truly excelled so far.
in the game? The
Part of my enthusiasm for this novel is that it takes pressure, I imagined, place in the world of athletics. As a young person, I would close in on all spent most of my free time trying to be a great runner. I idolized my coach, studied the greats, and chose my sides of the family college in large part because I could join the school's and tensions would Division 3 cross-country and track teams. Now, I spend develop between all hundreds of hours per year watching my two teenaged of its members. sons compete in those sports plus ice hockey. I genuinely love the children and watching them give their all, but I didn't anticipate the need to manage the anxiety that dogged me during my own athletic career as a parent on the sidelines. If I'm not playing or racing, shouldn't I be able to have a little distance? It turns out, I don't. My adrenaline starts a slow drip days before big contests. When the puck drops, my heart rate often spikes to levels consistent with running. Many times, I've found sitting on the sidelines to be more taxing than competing myself. I'm one breed of "intense" sports parent, but as I began writing Home or Away, I wondered about parents who are even more invested? What about moving states to be in closer proximity to the best coaches? And, what if the kid playing the sport was
the offspring of someone who truly excelled in the game? The pressure, I imagined, would close in on all sides of the family and tensions would develop between all of its members. In the midst of this fictional hot box, I imagined Leigh Mackenzie. A trailblazer on the front end of women's hockey in Minnesota, Leigh made every sacrifice in order to chase her dream of Olympic glory. But in 2001, she was cut from the Salt Lake City Olympic team even after conducting an illicit affair with an assistant coach. She thought her association with Jeff would cement her team placement, but instead it's a shameful secret she carries forever. Leigh leaves the sport in favor of a high-stakes investment banking career and cuts ties with everyone she knows in hockey, until her nine-year-old son wants a shot at being the best. That shot is in Liston Heights, the heart of Minnesota hockey and the same town where many of her former teammates and coaches still control the game and also know all of the secrets Leigh tried to bury when she left the sport behind. That's the story, and I hope you'll find in it lots to talk about: guilt, forgiveness, secrets, choices, and balance. Keep me posted! With so much gratitude,
Kathleen
KATHLEEN WEST is a veteran school teacher. She graduated with a degree in English from Macalester College and holds a master's degree in literacy education from the University of Minnesota. She lives in Minneapolis with her A+ human family and two B- dogs. ©
KathleenWestBooks.com • WordSavvyBlog.com KWestBooks • KathleenWestAuthor • KathleenWestWrites
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A C O N V E R S AT I O N W I T H
K AT H L E E N W E S T Tell us about Home or Away. Home or Away is the story of two women for whom hockey was everything. In 2002, both were on the cusp of making the Olympic team. Susy makes it; Leigh doesn't. After that shock, Leigh excises the sport from her life entirely. But, in 2022 when her own son wants a shot at being great, she has to rejoin the hockey world. This means facing both Jeff Carlson, the assistant coach with whom she had an affair in her quest for a gold medal, and Susy, who knows all her secrets.
What inspired you to write this story? I love women's sports! I have wanted to write a novel in which sports play a starring role forever. As I began brainstorming, I became fascinated by (and felt incredible empathy for) people who've sacrificed everything for their potential success only to face disappointment. I wondered, what do you do with all of that energy and drive when your dream dies? began brain-
As I storming, I became fascinated by (and felt incredible empathy for) people who've sacrificed everything for their potential success only to face disappointment. I wondered, what do you do with all of that energy and drive when your dream dies?
Hockey is at the center of the novel—your protagonist was a former elite player, and her young son now is entering the competitive circuit. Why did you choose to write about the sport? I'm a lifelong Minnesotan, and hockey is an institution here. For years, I resisted becoming a hockey mom myself, but despite my best efforts, I'm now totally enmeshed. Youth hockey is intense in Minnesota, with each city and suburb fielding at least a few teams at each level. Everyone knows everyone in the hockey community, with multiple generations filling out roster spots on cer-
tain storied youth and high school teams. I imagined Minnesota youth hockey would be a tricky world for Leigh to navigate. Not only would people remember her—she won the prestigious Ms. Hockey award in the early days of girls' competition, and her brother is the varsity boys' coach for one of the perennially competitive teams—but they'd expect her son to be exceptional, as well. It's so much pressure for the whole family, which makes for a good, tense story.
You're also a former collegiate athlete. How did your experience inform the writing of this novel? Did you find yourself relating to your protagonist? I love being an athlete, but I should say up front that at no point in my career have I been a standout like Leigh. In college, I was rank-and-file in an okay program. Not being the best, however, doesn't stop me from being intense about sports and basically everything else in my life. So, yes, I absolutely relate to Leigh. I think she's more like me than any character I've written. I know what it's like to single-mindedly pursue a goal at the expense of other priorities, and I know what it's like to face defeat.
I think she's more like me than any character I've written. I know what it's like to single-mindedly pursue a goal at the expense of other priorities, and I know what it's like to face defeat.
Your novel touches on the competitiveness and favoritism that can exist in team sports. Do you think these elements can have a detrimental impact on younger kids? "Fairness" is an interesting concept, isn't it? There are always factors outside our control that impact results, especially in "subjective" sports that rely on coaches' impressions and biases. Perhaps that's why I gravitated toward running. When the gun goes off, whoever crosses the line first is the best on the day.
Still, one of the reasons I love sports so much is that it's an arena in which to practice real-life problem-solving. It's not as if every challenge a kid faces is free from complexity. From college admissions to job applications, it's never going to be 100 percent "fair." I think being realistic about all of the factors—including money and privilege—that impact success is important.
You’ve written from a child’s point of view in a few of your novels, including Home or Away. Do you find these sections challenging to write? Or as a mom and teacher who engages with children on a regular basis, does it come rather naturally? All of my novels so far have kid points of view! Most of the time, the kids' voices come easily to me. One reason I love including them is that I find it fascinating to provide an analysis of the adults' conduct, values, and actions through the eyes of children. It can be uncomfortable as an adult to accept that kids can identify so clearly our foibles, but as a teacher and a parent myself, I know they do.
This novel hits on timely issues, such as the #MeToo movement and misconduct and abuse in athletics. What inspired you to layer these topics into your story? Sexual harassment and abuse are so prevalent. It doesn't matter how "strong" a woman is, or how capable, or how vigilant. When I was a twenty-two-year-old teacher, a colleague of mine in his late thirties or early forties harassed me. I'm tempted to say that it wasn't "that bad"; and it's true, I wasn't physically harmed. But it was disgusting and alarming and it made me feel powerless, especially when my male bosses insisted that I could effectively continue working closely with my harasser. The men in charge felt I was overreacting and overly emotional. Many women have been in this position. I'm not sure I know a woman in her forties who hasn't faced at minimum an "icky" situation, and at worst, a criminal one. I'm disappointed, but not surprised, that complaints keep surfacing in athletics and other settings. Women athletes are so physically powerful and skilled. I can only imagine the dissonance they might feel when they're targets of abuse. Leigh tries so hard to convince herself and everyone else that she was always in control.
What do you think athletics can teach us about parenting, and about life? Everything! I'm so grateful for sports. My life is immeasurably better because of running, and I still enjoy pursuing (modest) goals into middle age. Running teaches me all the time about resilience, control, success, and disappointment. And though it's stressful, especially as a high-strung person, to parent my children through the ups and downs of athletics, I'm so grateful we have this passion in common. If my kids had been into theater or It's a book about band or robotics, I'm sure I could have found inroads in these activities, too, but they're both athletes. forgiveness and
What do you hope readers will take away from this novel? It's a book about forgiveness and growth and making peace with the past. I hope readers will absolve themselves of long-ago missteps. I also hope the book conveys the importance of letting kids set their own goals and make their own agendas in sports and in life.
growth and making peace with the past.
What are you working on next? I'm trying to write a book with murder in it! It's been a fun new challenge. I think readers will find the novel to be similar to my others—complicated characters, complicated families, damaging secrets—but perhaps also enjoy a more overt mystery and some clever bloodshed.
N E V E R H AV E I E V E R : S P O R T S PA R E N T I N G EDITION Put a check mark next to the items you’re guilty of. ❏ Scowling with your arms crossed on the sidelines. ❏ Having been asked to leave the arena. ❏ Walking onto the playing field during a contest. ❏ Leading your child through a playby-play breakdown on the drive home. ❏ Having to sit separately from the other parents because of your anxiety and/or propensity for swearing. ❏ Arguing with a coach or ref.
❏ A volunteer has been assigned to sit next to you to help you control your behaviors. ❏ Purchasing a white board to go over the Xs and Os at home. ❏ Instituting family film watching sessions. ❏ Keeping stats on the whole team. ❏ Tallying and reviewing your child's turnovers. ❏ Monitoring your child's performance diet and making “helpful" suggestions.
❏ Fighting with the opposing team's parents. (Includes verbal and physical altercations and does not matter if it was “your fault.")
❏ Maintaining silence in the car on the way home from a bad game.
❏ Swearing at opposing players.
❏ Watching practice more than once per week.
❏ A referee has had a personal conversation with you. ❏ Comparing your child to the pros, either positively or negatively.
❏ Rating your child's performance on a scale of 1 to 10 after each game.
❏ Sneaking in to watch tryouts. ❏ Ignoring parent guidelines of any kind.
Score 0–3: You're a model of parental restraint and control! Score 4–10: You ride the line, but you know it. Keep fighting the good fight! Score 11+: It might be time to begin a mindfulness practice and channel the sage advice of Head Manager Cathy Kelliher, "It's. Just. Youth. Sports."
LEIGH AND SUSY'S LO C K E R R O O M P U M P U P P L AY L I S T "Bootylicious" DESTINY'S CHILD
"Mustang Sally" WILSON PICKETT
"All the Small Things" BLINK-182
"Tubthumping" CHUMBAWAMBA
"Lose Yourself" EMINEM
"Rock Your Body" JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
"Good Vibrations" MARKY MARK AND THE FUNKY BUNCH, LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY
"No Scrubs" TLC
"Push It" SALT-N-PEPA "Whoomp! (There It is)" TAG TEAM "It's Tricky" RUN-D.M.C. "No Diggity" BLACKSTREET, DR. DRE, QUEEN PEN "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" EIFFEL 65, GABRY PONTE "One Week" BARENAKED LADIES "Hot in Herre" NELLY
"Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" WILL SMITH "Ray of Light" MADONNA "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!" VENGABOYS
Scan to listen to the playlist on Spotify!
SPORTS PERSONALITY QUIZ What does your competitive spirit say about you? 1. Your four-year-old expresses an interest in soccer. You: A. Research each of the travel clubs in your area and text a few experienced parents to determine which program will be best for her long-term development. B. Inflate a playground ball and send her to the park with the babysitter to kick it around. If the interest lasts, you'll consider next summer's park league. C. Four years old? Your child had already been training for eighteen months by that age. 2. It's time for the annual work softball tournament. You: A. Sneak into the HR manager's office to make sure you've been assigned to the team with the former NCAA pitcher. B. Volunteer to bring extra condiments to the post-tournament BBQ. C. Make a spreadsheet based on your team's roster and immediately assign positions, practice plans, and game scenario flash cards.
3. Your child's high school team has a big competition this weekend. You: A. Bury yourself in a work project or a good book to distract you from your vicarious nerves. B. Pat yourself on the back for remembering to throw your superfan sweatshirt in the wash. C. Spend a few hours analyzing the opponents' stats, but limit yourself to just one email and/or two texts to the head coach to share your findings. 4. Your daughter has both a hockey and soccer tournament this weekend, two states apart. You: A. Determine which team needs her the most and send an apologetic email to the other coach. It's unfortunate to miss one, but you did explain at the outset of the season that you'd refused to make her specialize in one sport at age twelve. B. Two away tournaments? You've ensured that this scenario never happens by prioritizing your child's unstructured time over organized sports. C. Discover that you can make most games for each tournament by driving three hours and then catching a direct flight. Easy peasy.
5. You run into a high school track teammate at Target. You: A. Immediately begin the secret handshake you developed after the conference championship your senior year. B. Were first-chair violin in high school and only did track to fulfill the P.E. requirement. C. Remember each of her personal bests and how exactly they compared to yours. Ask about her current training. 6. A ref makes an objectively terrible call in your child's game. You: A. Bite your lip. It's unfair, but maybe he'll issue a make-up call in the next period. B. Look up from Twitter when the rest of the parents in your section collectively groan. C. Quickly compose an email to the district coordinator. It isn't this ref's first offense. 7. Your teenager decides she wants to quit lacrosse, a sport she's played for eight years. You: A. Remind her that being a sports standout can open a lot of college doors. She doesn't want to look like a quitter when she fills out her applications. B. Feel a little sad about the end of an era, but quickly get on board with her show choir idea.
C. Forbid it. Kids need to learn important lessons about never giving up. If need be, you'll bribe her to get through the next season.
Mostly As:
You're a dedicated sports enthusiast who understands the costs and benefits of youth athletics. Sure, people who don't "do" sports might find your dedication confusing, but among the sports parents you know, you make sure you're right in the middle of the intensity continuum.
Mostly Bs:
You're a super-chill sports parent entirely more focused on balance than excellence. This stance usually works out well, except in the cases when a kid wants more than you're willing to give.
Mostly Cs:
You're a gold medalist in sports intensity. Caring is great, but remember: following your kids' lead is important, too; and in the end, kids' sports won't have many longterm consequences beyond the life lessons they learn on the field.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1.
Home or Away takes place within the world of youth hockey. Is Gus overcommitted to hockey? Are youth sports too intense in general?
2.
Gus feels extra pressure in hockey because his mom was an elite athlete. How much pressure should parents exert on their kids in sports?
3.
Leigh has had a hard time maintaining good female friendships. Could you see yourself connecting with her as a friend? Does Leigh have the capacity to be a good friend?
4.
If you are a parent, did you sympathize with Leigh and Charlie wanting to give Gus his best shot in youth hockey? Have you ever made any similar kinds of choices for your own children?
5.
Failure dogs all of the main characters. Was there a particular moment that stood out to you that seemed the hardest for one of the characters to overcome?
6.
Is Charlie's relationship with Susy inappropriate? In your opinion what were they looking for from each other?
7.
Leigh recognizes her tendency toward unfairness to Charlie. Did you think they had a good relationship and were you rooting for them?
8.
Leigh and Charlie seem to have embraced their nontraditional gender roles, but then Leigh uses them as ammunition in arguments with her husband. In what ways do you think money and income impact their relationship?
9.
Is Charlie wrong to make Leigh the subject of his novel? What responsibility does he have to share with her what he's working on?
10. Leigh kept her relationship with Jeff a secret for twenty years. When, if ever, should she have told Charlie the truth? 11. To what extent is each character at peace at the conclusion of the book? What do you think was the biggest emotional takeaway for each of them?