Home Home by Lisa Allen-Agostini is an award-winning novel about a girl on the verge of losing herself and the unlikely journey to recovery after she is removed from anything and everyone she knows to be home. In this Q&A, author Lisa Allen-Agostini tells us about her inspiration and what she hopes readers will take away from this powerful story.
1) What inspired you to write Home, Home?
I sat down to write one day and the girl just came out, cursing the wind. I had an experience similar to what I wrote about at the start of the book. In my case I was too anxious to catch the right bus, got off at the wrong stop and had to walk for an hour to get home. I had a coat like the one she wears. And in its pocket were a handful of bus schedules. The story mostly wrote itself after that scene; I think I finished it in two or three weeks.
The main character’s experience of being sent from the Caribbean to Canada after a depressive episode is based on the story of a girl I knew at school, though she never felt exiled like the protagonist does and her foster family wasn’t queer as far as I know.
2) What was the most difficult part about writing this story? What part was the easiest?
Writing about depression and anxiety can trigger depression and anxiety. Sometimes I would be affected by what I was writing.
Developing the mother’s character was hard; my editors had to force me into expanding what was originally a shadowy figure in the story. I had a tough relationship with my own mother and I suppose that’s why I was so reluctant.
3) What character do you identify with the most and why?
I love the protagonist. She is smart and funny and beautiful. She just doesn’t know it. I love how she speaks her truth.
4) What do you want teens today to take away from this story?
I hope they see that mental illness is not as unusual as they might think, that ordinary people in their villages might suffer with it, that it’s just an illness, not a curse, and that treatment helps. I would also like them to consider how racist beauty standards affect them. And, finally, I would like them to see that love is love.
5) What are you currently reading?
These are scary times. As someone who has an anxiety diagnosis, I’ve found the COVID-19 pandemic very difficult to navigate. I minimize my anxiety by reading the Bible and watching 20-year-old episodes of Law and Order, a blissfully formulaic TV show.
