The Road Home was published by Atlantic Monthly Press in 1998 as a companion to Dalva. The novel uses five narrators from the Northridge family: John Wesley Northridge II (Dalva’s grandfather, narrating from the 1950s), Dalva herself, Nelse (Dalva’s son, found at last), Naomi (Dalva’s mother), and Paul (Dalva’s uncle). Each voice occupies a section of the novel, and together they compose a portrait of one family’s relationship to the Nebraska land across three generations.
Harrison’s ambition here is panoramic: to tell the story of the American West through one family’s experience, from the destruction of the Sioux through contemporary ranching. The Northridge family’s connection to Native American history (through marriage, through witness, through guilt) provides the moral weight. The Nebraska landscape — its vastness, its seasonal cycles, its demanding beauty — is the novel’s true protagonist: the land endures while the humans who inhabit it struggle, fail, and pass.
The multiple-narrator structure allows Harrison to explore different relationships to the same landscape and history: the grandfather’s guilt over witnessing genocide, Dalva’s grounded attachment to the ranch, Nelse’s outsider perspective as a young man discovering his heritage, Naomi’s practical management of family affairs. The novel is more expansive and less compressed than Dalva — it breathes more freely — and some readers prefer its generosity to the earlier novel’s intensity.
Collecting The Road Home
First edition (Atlantic Monthly Press, New York, 1998): Cloth with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $20–$50
- Signed: $40–$80
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
Dalva’s Sequel
The Road Home (1998) is the sequel to Dalva, returning to the Northridge family in Nebraska. The novel is narrated by four different characters across four generations, including Dalva herself, her grandfather, her son, and her uncle. Harrison’s ambition is to create an American family epic that encompasses the dispossession of the Lakota, the ecological destruction of the Great Plains, and the possibility of redemption through connection to the land. It is more sprawling and less controlled than Dalva but contains some of Harrison’s finest landscape writing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to read Dalva first? It is strongly recommended. The Road Home deepens and complicates the family story established in Dalva, and much of its emotional power depends on the reader’s prior investment in the characters.