The Little Things (Coming Home)

Coming Home
Jay Northcote

In Jay Northcote’s “Coming Home” the plot is one I’m not particularly fond of. I seriously hate the sheer audacity it takes to come back to an old love you stomped on and truly expect to start up where you left off. Who does that S-ugar H-oney I-ce … you know the rest (and it’s not coffee). That aside, it is a common plot point and Jay Northcote spared us the (practically requisite) ten-year separation—Jago and Will were only apart for a few short months. But that’s not why this story works. It works because of Jay Northcote. Reading the author’s cadence in a narrative voice, which owns its rhythm, is a beautiful thing. All those little references alien to me, but not so much for Jay Northcote, worked. The setting and voice are both organic in execution, so all the little things ring true.