Slow Way Home - by Michael Morris (Paperback)

About the Book

Rather then following a court order to return their grandson Brandon to his drug-addicted mother, the child's grandparents flee with him and assume new identities in a turbulent Southern town. With surprising delicacy and insight, Morris offers a moving meditation on the power of faith and the meaning of home.

From the Back Cover

On the surface, Brandon Willard seems like your average eight-year-old boy. He loves his mama, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and G. I. Joe. But Brandon's life is anything but typical.

Wise beyond his years, Brandon understands he's the only one in this world he can count on. It's an outlook that serves him well the day his mama leaves him behind at the Raleigh bus station and sets off to Canada with "her destiny" -- the latest man that she hopes will bring her happiness. The day his mother leaves, Brandon takes the first step toward shaping his own destiny. Soon he sends himself spending pleasant days playing with his cousins on his grandparents' farm and trying to forget the past. In the safety of that place, Brandon finally is able to trust the love of an adult to help iron out the wiry places until his nerves are as steady as any other boy's.

But when Sophie Willard shows up a year later with a determined look in her eye and a new man in tow, Brandon's grandparents ignore a judge's ruling and flee the state with Brandon. Creating a new life and identity in a small Florida town, Brandon meets the people who will fill him with self-worth and self-respect. He slowly becomes involved with "God's Hospital," a church run by the gregarious Sister Delores, a woman who is committed to a life of service for all members of the community, black and white, regardless of some townsfolk's disapproval.

Review Quotes

"Slow Way Home is a gem -- both gritty and heartwarming at once. A wonderful, emotional read." - --Lee Smith, author of The Last Girls

"Slow Way Home is a novel for the heart. It is pitch perfect and the character Brandon is going to linger in a lot of minds. The opening chapter is one of the most poignant and poweful I have ever read. This is a fine book." - Anne Rivers Siddons, author of Nora, Nora

"[A] tour de force... told in a Southern style that invites readers in and asks them to stay awhile." - --Gadsden Times (Northeast AL)

"Michael Morris is someone to watch .. .[Slow Way Home is] courageous and heartbreaking and moving...." - --The Birmingham News

"Brandon Willard may well be one of the most endearing novel narrators since Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird." - -- Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, 9/28/03

"Slow Way Home is a journey of the human spirit and its themes... make it a novel for the ages." - --Richard Paul Evans, author of The Christmas Box

"a compulsively readable novel with many fine passages on the importance of home and the comforts of faith." - Booklist

"Morris' insightful book gives voice to the struggle millions of grandparents and the grandchildren in their care face everyday." - --Donna M Butts, Executive Director, Generations United

"A gentle story suffused with brutal truths, almost fable-like in its resonant simplicity.....a journey well worth taking." - --Tim Farrington, author of The Monk Downstairs

"In a remarkably consistent narrative voice, Morris takes us along for a moving, funny ride..." - --Silas House, author of Clay's Quilt and A Parchment of Leaves

"...impressive achievement...entertaining and affecting." - --St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12/28/03

"An emotionally charged work that is as timely as it is touching." - --Dallas Morning News

"Master storyteller Michael Morris has delivered another stunning novel....touching, truthful, and beautifully written. It is not to be missed!" - --Lynne Hinton, author of Friendship Cake

"Morris excels in creating the child's voice.... an inspiring portrait of a true survivor." - BookPage

"... echoes of Harper Lee...or of Flannery O'Connor's Southern grotesques . . . or even of Huck Finn.... " - Washington Post

"Slow Way Home is one of those rare finds....it should become a classic." - --Tampa Tribune (Florida)

"[B]oth contemporary and timeless...read the book and savor for yourself Brandon's redemption ...." - -- Mobile Register, 9/27/03

"[E]motional and fast-paced . . . the social issues covered make this an intelligent book for debate." - -- Southern Scribe, 9/03

"Slow Way Home is a warm, witty, fresh, and innovative novel." - --Homer Hickam, author of October Sky