LIVE @ MTM: Charity Eleson in Conversation with Matt Rothschild

About the Book : Wayward Home is a coming-of-age novel set in the summer of 1961. Seven-year-old Claire Johnson's idyllic life is turned upside down when she learns that her father—a fire and brimstone fundamentalist preacher—has lost his job and their home along with it. Suddenly homeless and without prospects, Claire's parents—the mercurial and conflicted Ernest Johnson and his ambitious wife, Harriet—decide to take their family of seven on the road in search of a new life and a new preaching job for Claire's father. Told through Claire's unvarnished and observant voice, Wayward Home follows the Johnson family as they travel from church to church through America's Heartland. As summer progresses, life begins to unravel and grow more precarious. The journey awakens Claire to questions about religious faith and the surprising truths about her parents' lost dreams and long-buried secrets. Wayward Home is filled with heartbreak and grace, telling the tale of one family's struggle to find home.

About the Charity Eleson: Charity Eleson is a fiction writer living in the country just outside of Madison, Wisconsin. Wayward Home is her second novel. Her first was Blessing's Key. She previously worked in communications, public policy and management in human services. When she isn't writing, she gardens, travels with her husband and enjoys the wonders of nature.

About Matt Rothschild: Matt Rothschild is the former editor and publisher of The Progressive magazine, and the former executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. He is the author of Twelve Ways to Save Democracy in Wisconsin.

Host or Publisher Mystery to Me