The Road Towards Home

By Corinne Demas

Lake Union Publishing

 

Amherst author Corinne Demas, a former professor of English at Mount Holyoke College, began her literary career writing primarily for adults, including some novels and short story collections.

But over the past two decades in particular, she’s written more widely for younger readers, both children and young adults; all told she’s published 38 books, including a memoir and a poetry collection. She co-wrote some of her children’s books with her daughter, Artemis Roehrig.

But Demas’ latest title, “The Road Towards Home,” marks her return to writing for an older audience. And with this witty tale of a widow and widower who meet in a senior living home, Demas focuses on an age group that doesn’t get much coverage in books, movies, or any other creative forum.

Noah Shilling and Cassandra Joyce are both at the Clarion Retirement Community, a place neither really cares for. Noah’s son, Larry, didn’t want his father living alone and convinced him to move in, and Cassandra has recently arrived after selling her house, deciding it was too big to take care of on her own. She’s already second-guessing her move.

They soon bond over their shared dislike of gossip at the home and the overbearing sociability of some fellow retirees, such as when Cassandra ducks out of taking part in a Scrabble game by abruptly sitting down with Noah while he’s eating dinner alone.

“You’re not a fan of Scrabble?” says Noah.

“I have nothing against Scrabble,” says Cassandra. “It’s all those well-meaning people.”

“They can be exhausting, can’t they?” Noah observes. “They descended upon me when I arrived, and I’ve been trying to fend them off ever since.”

Cassandra has a bit of an ulterior motive in making Noah’s “acquaintance”: She tells him they actually met decades ago, when he was a student at Amherst College and she was at Mount Holyoke and dated his roommate. Noah doesn’t remember her real well, but he likes her bold, offbeat personality.

They’ve got other things in common: They’re both stubborn and opinionated, and they have strained relationships with their children. Noah thinks Larry is controlled by his wife, Elizabeth, whom he has no love for. Cassandra’s two daughters both live miles away, but that doesn’t stop them questioning her decisions, like selling the family house, when they talk on the phone.

But Demas, who lives part of the year on Cape Cod, leavens a good part of this dissonance with droll humor, with Noah and Cassandra riffing off one another like characters in an Elinor Lipman novel.

Noah, a former English professor, tells Cassandra his Clarion apartment possessions aren’t that valuable, save for some paintings his daughter-in-law “has had her eye on since she first entrapped my son. She already has picture hooks in place on her living room walls, awaiting my demise.”

“You really don’t like her, do you?” says Cassandra.

“That is a fairly accurate assessment,” Noah responds. “And I have yet to be presented with a reason to revise my opinion.”

When the retirement home announces plans to shut down the main dining room and the pool for a while for renovations, Noah suggests the two escape in Cassandra’s car to his rustic cottage on Cape Cod for a bit. (Clarion’s geographic setting isn’t defined, but it’s presumably somewhere in New England.)

Cassandra, a former entomologist and naturalist, is an impulsive person, and she likes the idea of being able to watch American woodcocks on the Cape, a bird that mates this time of year. But though she and Noah have become friendly, she’s not sure if their relationship is ready for sharing a small cottage, even with separate bedrooms.

“I am not in the market for another husband,” she says. “I’ve had more than my share.” (Three, to be accurate, with her marriages to the first two ending in divorce.)

“That’s a relief,” says Noah.

Then Cassandra, worried that one of her daughters, Laurel, might suddenly come to visit her — Cassandra wants to to avoid that possibility — decides to take the plunge and go to Cape Cod.

Their close confinement will force the two to reveal more of their pasts and uncork some emotional baggage, which Demas, amid the witty repartee, presents with both poignancy and warmth.

Noah will also have to come to terms with sharing the cottage with Cassandra’s grimy Newfoundland, Melville, who Cassandra insists on bringing. “He’ll grow on you,” she assures Noah.

Could romance bloom between these independent septuagenarians? Their well-drawn profiles may have you rooting for that to happen. Demas also creates some good secondary characters, like Cassandra’s friend Mallory, to bring more perspective to the story.

In the end, “The Road Towards Home” is a light but thoughtful rumination on getting older, on relationships between elderly parents and grown children, and the possibilities of late love.

As Hatfield author Jane Yolen says of the novel’s lead characters, “They are both wise and wisecrackers, both loving and snarky. And I, at eighty-three, sat up half the night finishing the book. It’s that good.”

Steve Pfarrer can be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.

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