Homecoming

Homecoming (1981) is Cynthia Voigt’s first book in the Tillerman Cycle series, a seven-book young adult series. The novel earned praise and recognition as a National Book Award finalist; other books in the series won a Newberry medal and a Newberry honor. Following four young, abandoned siblings navigating large stretches of New England and the Northeastern United States, the novel explores themes about home, family, and resilience.

This guide refers to the 1981 edition, which was reprinted in eBook format by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Content Warning: The source material explores content relating to mental illness, domestic violence, food insecurity, and child hunger. Additionally, the novel uses slurs directed towards people with intellectual disabilities, which this guide references but obscures.

Plot Summary

The novel begins in a mall parking lot in Peewauket, Connecticut, in the early summer of the late 1970s. The four Tillerman siblings (Dicey, James, Maybeth, and Sammy) wait in their family car for their mother, Liza Tillerman, to return, though they become increasingly worried as hours pass. Dicey, the oldest daughter and the novel’s protagonist, instinctively knows Liza abandoned the children indefinitely; she devises a plan for the children to travel to their Aunt Cilla’s house in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Dicey distrusts law enforcement and is concerned about keeping her siblings together. Unable to drive, Dicey navigates with a map and leads her siblings on foot.

As Dicey attempts to keep everyone fed and safe, money becomes a constant concern. Although Dicey initially estimated the journey would take a few days, the younger children’s slow pace adds weeks to the trip. Dicey chooses a route close to the ocean since she feels most at home in and near water. The children supplement their diet with fish, clams, and mussels they catch and harvest, especially when they camp in Rockland State Park for several days. Although Dicey encourages the family to maintain privacy about their situation, they meet several other teens and adults, some more helpful and understanding than others. When the Tillermans run out of money and feel defeated, two college students provide them with food, dry clothes, a clean place to sleep, showers, and finally, a ride to Bridgeport.

The children’s anticipation of seeing their mother at Aunt Cilla’s house turns to disappointment when she isn’t there. More than the others, Sammy struggles to accept the reality of Liza’s abandonment. What’s more, Cilla died several months prior. Her daughter, Eunice, inherited Cilla’s estate, and she agrees to shelter the Tillermans temporarily. Eunice is devoutly Catholic; she was working to become a nun, a goal she must set aside to care for the children. Father Joseph, Eunice’s priest, establishes the younger children in summer camp and summer school while Dicey cooks and cleans for Eunice and picks up side jobs at grocery stores. Although book-smart James thrives in Bridgeport, quiet and shy Maybeth struggles academically and in social circles. Sammy frequently acts out and engages in physical fights with his peers. Father Joseph and Eunice talk with Dicey about finding foster homes for her youngest siblings, which terrifies Dicey. Authorities locate Liza in a psychiatric hospital, describing her condition as dire without a chance for improvement.

Dicey decides to travel to Crisfield, Maryland, where Abigail, the Tillermans’ maternal grandmother, lives. Although she intends to scout the area independently, James unearths her plan and accompanies her with Maybeth and Sammy. The children can travel by bus for much of the journey. They make friends with teenagers Jerry and Tom, who sail them to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Enamored with the sailboat, Dicey feels at one with the ocean when Jerry and Tom teach her to sail. In Maryland, Dicey convinces her siblings to work harvesting crops; she worries they will need to return to Eunice’s house and doesn’t want to run out of cash. The farmer who hires them exploits the children and threatens them with his aggressive dog, wanting to use the children for free labor. They run away from him, receiving help from members of a traveling circus. The Tillermans travel with the circus for a while, working alongside the performers and building strong relationships. Will and Claire, leaders in the circus, eventually drive the Tillerman children to Crisfield.

Dicey insists on meeting with Abigail alone, much to James’s chagrin. She walks to her house, leaving the younger siblings in Crisfield’s downtown area. Dicey finds Abigail in a large, dilapidated farmhouse overgrown with weeds in the front but bountiful with well-maintained crops in the back. Her grandmother is uninviting and crotchety, but she allows the children to sleep, not stay, at her house. Dicey learns more about Abigail’s history as she encourages her siblings to be helpful and complete chores. Dicey learns to appreciate her grandmother as intelligent and capable, though the matriarchs butt heads about disciplining Sammy and sheltering Maybeth. Abigail wavers, ultimately deciding to serve as the permanent guardian of the Tillerman children.