Publication Date: January 30, 2024
Appealing to readers of Delia Owens’ Where the Crawdads Sing, Kristin Hannah’s Firefly Lane, and Ann Packer’s The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, Belonging is a heartbreaking and hopeful coming of age story that traverses lifelong friendship, first love, and a young woman’s fierce desire to transcend her traumatic childhood.
Jenny is thirteen when an epic dust storm rolls into her central California town in December 1977. Bedridden after contracting a life-threatening illness in the storm and suffering a shocking loss, Jenny realizes she will never be cared for by the mother who both neglects and terrifies her or the father who allows it. She relies on her cousin, Heather, who has the loving home Jenny longs for; her beloved great-uncle, Gino, the last link between generations; her best friend, Henry, a free spirit with whom she shares an inexplicable bond; and earnest baseball star, Billy, who becomes her first love. After a stunning turn of events in both their lives, Jenny and Henry leave for college in LA together in the summer of 1982—Jenny fleeing a broken heart, and Henry running from something he can’t reveal, even to his best friend. When she returns home years later, the life Jenny so carefully created collides with the one she left behind.
Spanning three decades, Belonging is about first love and heartbreak, friendship and secrets, family and forgiveness, hometowns and coming of age, and memory and music. The heart of the story is Jenny’s struggle to undo the binds of a childhood that have deeply affected her life, the painful path to love endured by children raised in alcoholic families, and the grim reality of believing you must hide a part of yourself in order to belong.
Belonging by Jill Fordyce unfolds the life journey of Jenny over 40 years.
We meet Jenny in an eighth-grade classroom in 1977. In that classroom, her teacher introduces her to photography. At that moment, she is partnered with a boy who will fill her heart, break it, and maybe later put the pieces back together. But outside the classroom, the Southern California wind whips, the sky turns brown, and the school is evacuated. Lurking in the dirty air is a fungus. First appearing as a rash, Valley Fever will ravage Jenny’s body and alter her life for almost six months.
Jenny suffers as doctors try various treatments. Even more difficult to overcome is her agony because of the neglect of her parents and the loss of her beloved Nonna during her confinement.
In Jenny’s home, her father cowers to her mother’s verbal abuse and ignores how her alcoholism affects their daughter. What keeps her moving forward is the love and support of other family and friends. Her extended family, those who share a relationship, and those who share her same need to hide secret shame are critical to her survival. But living with neglect leaves Jenny doubting her worthiness for love. However, she is confident she will find a way to escape the life she endures at home as she ages.
A unique element in the novel is that as Jenny leans into the support of Uncle Gino and assists in his antique store, she collects prayer cards. She finds them beautiful, inspiring, and essential in keeping her faith strong amidst her struggles. The author weaves the quotes of the Catholic faith from these holy cards throughout the story. Finding these gorgeously illustrated cards inspirational myself, I am fascinated at Jill Fordyce’s inclusion of these for such an uncommon approach to bringing emotional support to a character.
In a relatively short book, the plot is paced perfectly to really understand the complexities of this young girl’s circumstances. Even when the last part of the book skips 25 years, the character development, nor the plot feels rushed. I easily followed where life had brought her by 2017. I walked right into the last scene, and as Jenny wept, I sobbed and sobbed!
Aptly titled, Belonging demonstrates that although self-reliance and independence can be a strength, love and acceptance from others are what grounds us.
Born and raised in Bakersfield, California, Jill Fordyce received a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Southern California and a law degree from Santa Clara University. While practicing law, she continued to study writing through the Stanford Continuing Studies creative writing program. Belonging is her debut novel.
Jill and her husband, Craig, have five adult children and live in California and Tennessee.
