“Where The Heart Is” is a story of a seventeen year old pregnant girl (Novalee Nation) who’s abandoned by her boyfriend at a Wal-mart store where she hid and lived till the birth of her child. Alone and a stranger in the city, penniless and homeless, she meets various people who accompany her on this journey of self discovery and growth.

Forney Hull, the librarian, who teaches her the value of wisdom, who encourages her to pursue studies, Sister Husband, the charitable neighbour who eventually takes her and Americus (the newborn) in, Mr Whitecotton, who taught her a different world, one through the lens of a camera.

Slowly begins a new life, where she learns to treasure herself, to convince herself that she does deserve good things, and that though she had a bad early start in life, it didn’t mean that she was condemned to such a life in the future.

All in all, this book might not have the oomph or the excitement like ‘Life of Pi’ (Yann Martel), nor does it have the gut-wrenching quality of ‘Once We Were Orphans’ (Kazuo Ishiguro) but in its own special way, helps readers nourish their souls. It’s a close second to Dodie Smith’s ‘I Capture The Castle’.