All the Way Home

By: Ann Tatlock

Narrated by: Christina Moore

Award-winning author of A Room of My Own and A Place Called Morning, Ann Tatlock delivers a soul-searching inspirational story of faith and friendship.

Augie Schuler, a red-headed and freckled Irish girl, is living through a dim and depressing childhood. She is grateful for her one true friendship with Sunny Yamagata and Sunny's Japanese family. Through this gift from God, Augie is able to experience glimpses of happiness. But then on December 7, 1941, the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Suddenly the girls are torn apart, and the world around them changes. Many years go by, until one day they are reunited. How can their friendship ever be the same when so much time has passed?

From the voice of 10-year-old Augie come innocence and faith. From the voice of an adult Augie come understanding and survival. Tatlock explores difficult subjects with sensitivity and tenderness, while Christina Moore's compassionate narration captures the love and hope of two courageous women.

©2002 Ann Tatlock (P)2003 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Tatlock adeptly traces the girls' journey of faith with a light and sometimes humorous touch. She does an excellent job juxtaposing the horrors of Americans in Japanese hands and Japanese-Americans in the hands of their countrymen. Tatlock employs flashbacks efficiently, and her rich descriptions and characterizations are unusually fresh and inventive. Other Christian novelists would do well to emulate this quality contribution." (Publishers Weekly)

One of my favorites!

What a wonderful story! I learned so much about our Country, and about my own state of California and the role we played during world war 2. I was shocked to find out how bad we treated the Japanese American people, and that we actually had Japanese internment camps right here close to were I live? The narrator was perfect! and the story had so much!! It made me laugh, it made me cry (tears of sorrow and of happiness)...It was such a wonderful story, and it really touched me in so many ways. highly recommend this book!! you will not be disappointed

Red and Yellow, Black and White; All are Precious

Cruelty and prejudice are ageless, and as Solomon said, there' is nothing new under the sun . . . a child will always desire love and attention from their mother and father, always cleave to family, and Augie, in the 1940's was no different than any other kid . . . except she's lost her daddy and her mama has lost her mind . . . and when her mama takes her and her siblings to live with her uncle, things go from bad to worse . . . until she meets Sunny, a little Japanese girl at school . . . Sunny wants to be and look American, and Augie, who is of German/Irish decent, decides she wants to be Japanese, because Sunny and her family are the only place she has ever been accepted and loved . . . Augie begins to spend weekends and most nights with Sunny and her family and for three years feels part of a family for the first time . . . until December 7, 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, changing the lives of all those of Japanese decent who lived in California. Covering the time frame of the 1940s up through the 1960s, All the Way Home explores the dark places in the human heart, and a government and a people who operate out of fear and mistrust. Written with maturity, love and an open mind, this book will touch your heart . . . there are no easy answers, especially during war time . . . but instead must be endured and settled one person at a time, one soul at a time. One of my favorite parts of the book are when Augie and Sunny go on their literal search for God, wanting to talk to him face to face . . . and encountering the priest in the confessional, they are turned away. Oh, for the love of God!!! How many times have we, ourselves failed others and not been there when they are in search of Him? Ann Tatlock's gift of writing, examining relevant issues, without preaching or providing easy answers is refreshing. As the story continues into the 1960s with Augie's trip into Mississippi, I was almost reluctant to listen . . . I love the south, I live in the south . . . and I am not at all prejudiced against anyone . . . but I wasn't raised in the deep south . . . I was raised farther north in Kentucky. So I missed the racial riots, lynching and all manner of hate against blacks that happened here in the 1960s . . . although it's echo can still be heard among the mansions and manors of old . . . whose owners still employ (although legally now) black staff as cooks, maids and servants. But listen, I did, and the story blessed me, and it also horrified me . . . that it took beatings and repeated courage on the part of so many for simple rights (already awarded by the law) to be exercised. Corruption is deep at all levels of government, and not just in the south. The good book says, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil . . . Thank you, Ann Tatlock, for shining the light . . .

Tremendous Historical Fiction

This is a fine book that becomes a tour de force with one of the best narrations I've heard, and I listen to audiobooks every day.

Great story until a bland ending

Interesting first person fictional look at both the Japanese internment of WWII and the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Unfortunately, at the end, the book becomes a bland and pattern love story ending. Great until the last few chapters.

Never wanted to put down my headphones

I really enjoyed this book. It kept my interest and had great character depth. Inspiring and wonderful reading that was very enjoyable from beginning to end. Not a book that takes several chapters to get into. From the very beginning I found myself not wanting to put down my headphones.