"The story delivers a taut balance between its suspenseful raciness and literary soulfulness."

 

 

 

With its mysteries and dazzling pace, Take This Body Home explores how life can kill bits of our souls. Yet when luck leaves us more emotionally alive than dead, we can still fight for the love and peace we all need, no matter who steps in the way. 

 

In 1975, six-year-old Helena fights for the stability she lost after emigrating from violent Northern Ireland to Canada. She clings to her hope of returning home while battling her parents’ transience and the social rejection she finds on every new playground. Tiny yet tough, Helena uses her fists in defence while always eyeballing her chosen finish line – home.

 

As a young adult back in Northern Ireland, Helena finds love and stability with Edwin, a man of Herculean size and spirit who loathes his country’s violence. Then Helena’s life is shattered by a tragic event involving terrorists, during which she commits a killing and loses Edwin. Helena flees to Canada and can't return home for fear of further sectarian violence. 

 

Sixteen years later, Helena flies to London to record the memories of her epic past. In her search for peace and a home, she dares to unblock memories of the violent night she lost Edwin to bid him goodbye. Then Helena catches glimpses of Edwin. Is he the ghostly fragment of a love that tragically ended? Or is he alive?

 

Days later, in Canada, Helena’s brother, Neil, learns his sister is dangerously near Northern Ireland when he receives an anonymous parcel from England. Inside are Helena’s bag and journal. Terrified that Northern Irish terrorists have learned she is nearby, he sets off to find her. 

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