Twelve-year-old Fern believes she’s living a noble life–but what if everything she’s been told is a lie? This is a huge-hearted story about a girl learning to question everything-and to trust in herself.
Twelve-year-old Fern believes she’s living a noble life–but what if everything she’s been told is a lie? This is a huge-hearted story about a girl learning to question everything-and to trust in herself.
Fern’s lived at the Ranch, an off-the-grid, sustainable community in upstate New York, since she was six. The work is hard, but Fern admires the Ranch’s leader, Dr. Ben. So when Fern’s mother sneaks them away in the middle of the night and says Dr. Ben is dangerous, Fern doesn’t believe it. She wants desperately to go back, but her mom just keeps driving.
Suddenly thrust into the treacherous, toxic, outside world, Fern can think only of how to get home. She has a plan, but it will take time. As that time goes by, though, Fern realizes there are things she will miss from this place-the library, a friend from school, the ocean-and there are things she learned at the Ranch that are just…not true.
Now Fern will have to decide. How much is she willing to give up to return to the Ranch? Should she trust Dr. Ben’s vision for her life? Or listen to the growing feeling that she can live by her own rules?
Format: Paperback
Pages: 336
Imprint: Random House Inc
Publication date: 01/04/2025
Wrong Way Home
By Kate O’Shaugnessy
Review by Bryony
This sensitive, first-person narrative follows Fern on her journey to break free from the off-grid community she has lived in for the past five years. Her mother has realised their charming leader, Dr. Ben, is not all that he seems, and manages to escape with Fern back to her home town. But Fern has been brainwashed to believe the outside world they now inhabit is toxic, full of imagined dangers and threats. But even as she plans her return to the community, she simultaneously starts to realise the world is not what Dr. Ben has made it out to be.
Dealing with some serious themes in a considered, age-appropriate way, O'Shaughnessy weaves a believable narrative which balances tension and reflection. Fern is a totally real, relatable main character who we would love to read more about! Perfect for readers ages 12+.
