Homecoming (novel)
Homecoming is a 1981 young adult novel by Cynthia Voigt. It is the first book in the Tillerman Cycle.
The story follows four siblings—Dicey (13), James (10), Maybeth (9), and Sammy (6)—whose mother abandons them in a car near a Connecticut shopping mall. Their father has left long before, so Dicey must take care of her brothers and sister. With little money and no safe place to go, they decide to walk to Bridgeport to find their mother’s sister, Aunt Cilla, hoping she will help them.
Along the way, Dicey shows courage and leadership, earning a little money and keeping her siblings safe. They are helped by two college students, Windy and Stewart, who give them food and a ride to Bridgeport. When they reach Aunt Cilla’s home, they learn she has died and that her daughter Eunice will not easily take in four children. Their mother is found to be in a Massachusetts hospital, and the siblings realize they cannot rely on her for help.
Dicey plans to find a permanent home for the family with their maternal grandmother, Abigail Tillerman, in Crisfield, Maryland. The younger children stay with Eunice while Dicey leads the others on a second journey to the farm. On arrival, Abigail is wary of forming attachments after past losses, but Dicey and her siblings work hard and slowly win her over.
In the end, Abigail decides to care for them, and the family finds a real home with her. The journey, though difficult, ends with the sense that they have finally come home.
Homecoming introduces the Tillerman family and lays the groundwork for the rest of the series, which follows different characters and stories in later books. It explores themes of resilience, family, poverty, and how society treats unmarried mothers and people with mental illness.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:28 (CET).