Home At Last

by Raney, Deborah;

  4. What are interracial relationships like in the part of the country where you live? Are your neighborhoods, schools, and churches integrated, or are there sharp dividing lines? Have you ever lived in a town like (fictional) Langhorne, where only a few ethnic families resided? Were those families accepted and welcomed in the community?

  5. The characters in Home at Last had a range of experiences when it came to the way they were raised and taught about racial issues. Talk about some ideas you may have grown up with or learned in school or in the workplace that might actually be “racist” (defined as having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another).

  6. What do you think are some of the challenges Link and Shayla might face as a married interracial couple? What about Portia? The issues are complicated enough for adults, but how can Link and Shayla help Portia understand issues of racial division. And how can we help our children learn what is needed for racial unity?

  7. Another related issue this novel dealt with is that of stereotypes. Shayla was angry with her brother for going “down the list of bad stereotypes people have of black people.” (Jerry was involved in gangs, drugs, fathering an out-of-wedlock child, in prison.) Are those things, in reality, limited to any one ethnic group? Why do you think stereotypes of any group get started? What stereotypes fit you? Do you think any person likes to be fit into a stereotype? Why or why not?

  8. What do you think of Link’s opinion that he and Shayla can make a difference in promoting racial unity by simply living their lives in a way that demonstrates unity and compassion for all people?

  9. What challenges do you think Link and Shayla might have parenting a child who isn’t either of theirs by birth or adoption?

  10. Discuss the scene between Grant Whitman and Mike Michaels, the fathers of Link and Shayla. Do you think it is ever right for a parent to intervene on behalf of an adult child? How could things have backfired for Grant? Why do you think they didn’t?

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  About the Author

  DEBORAH RANEY dreamed of writing a book since the summer she read all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books and discovered that a little Kansas farm girl could, indeed, grow up to be a writer. After a happy twenty-year detour as a stay-at-home wife and mom, Deb began her writing career. Her first novel, A Vow to Cherish, was awarded a Silver Angel from Excellence in Media and inspired the acclaimed World Wide Pictures film of the same title. Since then, her books have won the RITA Award, the HOLT Medallion, and the National Readers’ Choice Award. Deb is also a three-time Christy Award finalist. She enjoys speaking and teaching at writers’ conferences across the country. She and her husband, Ken Raney, make their home in their native Kansas and, until a recent move to the city, enjoyed the small-town life that is the setting for many of Deb’s novels. The Raneys enjoy gardening, antiquing, art museums, movies, and traveling to visit four grown children and a growing brood of grandchildren, all of whom live much too far away.

  Deborah loves hearing from her readers. To e-mail her or to learn more about her books, please visit www.deborahraney.com.