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About this book

I guess you would call us a normal family. Once a month and sometimes other times too Dad would be gone for a few days. Mom told us that he was in the National Guard. We were normal you could say. And then we werent. Rachel Brownie Browning is thirteen when her father comes back from the war in Iraq. Of course she understands that he has been injured and that he will be a little different at least for a while. But Brownie doesnt even know the man with a prosthetic arm and leg who sits in the living room day after day. Hes certainly not the father who helped her build a fort in her backyard or played basketball with her sister or hauled her little brother around like a sack of potatoes. Brownies mother says that because of his traumatic brain injury their father needs their affection and patience. In time hell be betterDad will be back. But Dad doesnt seem to be making much progress or much effort. He doesnt smile. He doesnt talk. He wont even get out of his wheelchair even though the doctors have taught him how and say that walking is essential to his recovery. And Brownie begins to wonder will her family ever be able to return to the way life was before the war? A story about an ordinary family forced to deal with an extraordinary loss Back Home tells the tale of families scarred and the battle just beginning when their wounded loved ones return home.