Official Review: When Will Papa Get Home?

[Shelle]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "When Will Papa Get Home?" by Larada Horner-Miller.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Family, hope, and redemption are all themes prevalent in the historical fiction story, When Will Papa Get Home? By Larada Horner-Miller. I rated this book 3 out of 4 stars. I found the story to be very interesting and well-researched, however the inconsistencies in place names and paragraph formatting were distracting and made me think the book needed another round with a good editor before it went to press.

Set in southeastern Colorado, When Will Papa Get Home? tells the story of the Philly Place, an old rock-walled homestead built in the 1920’s and the family that once lived there. The main character, Maria, sees her kind and loving father get arrested and unjustly sent to prison when she is only eight-years old. Maria’s father claims his innocence, but the language barrier and widespread racism seal his fate and he’s sent to prison for ten years. Maria and her mother work hard to make a new life for themselves during his imprisonment, yet they still long for the man who was the center of both their lives and count down the days until he returns.

Larada Horner-Miller prefaced this book by stating that the Philly Place is an actual old homestead located near her family’s ranch in Colorado and this story is her fictional account of what may have occurred there. It was easy to tell that the Philly Place was real; Horner-Miller’s descriptions were rich and vibrant and the photos included at the end of the book were helpful as well. I appreciate all the research the author did to bring this story to life. A few of my favorite examples include the chapter where the family built their rock and adobe house, the descriptions of 1920’s era furniture, and the scenes where they are riding horses together. The author clearly has a passion for this time in history and the land she so vividly writes about.

While there weren’t an alarming number of errors in this book, the few that I saw were distracting. Town names were sometimes followed by the state and other times not. Sometimes the state was written out and sometimes abbreviated. Also, the indentations at the beginning of paragraphs were inconsistently spaced, sometimes being much longer than a standard tab. There was also one paragraph that repeated the first sentence. Another read-through by a good editor could easily clean up all these errors and the result would be a polished book.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes stories about the American southwest, redemption stories, and historical fiction. The book is not long and would be an easy one to read in a weekend. There were no descriptions of violence or curse words and I would have no problems recommending this book to younger readers.

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When Will Papa Get Home?
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Like Shelle's review? Post a comment saying so!

[Kdonegan91]

Too bad the book had formatting errors. It sounds like an interesting read. Thank you for such an honest review.

[kimmyschemy06]

Sounds like a poignant and memorable story, and I love the cover Too bad, though, about the errors. They can be distracting and ultimately, vexing. Great job on the review.

[MarisaRose]

Thanks for writing an interesting and honest review! It really sounds like an interesting plot but it's very unfortunate about all the errors. Hopefully the author will get this professionally edited!

[ebethina]

Thank you so much for the review. The title caught my eye and you review helped me want to read it even more. I'm going to add it on to my shelves of books to read. Thanks.

[Loccitane]

"...but the language barrier and widespread racism seal his fate..." You never mentioned their origin.

[pinklover]

The title look interesting and reminded me of my father. I don't know when will be my papa get home. I lose hope about that. thanks for your insights.