The House on Teacher's Lane

The bestselling author of Riding the Bus with My Sister shares an illuminating and beautifully woven memoir about the unexpected ways a home renovation can repair a heart.

When Rachel Simon and her architect husband begin to renovate their house on Teacher's Lane, she braces herself for the ups and downs that often accompany such projects. But to her surprise, as the old walls fall and new paint appears, she is propelled into a transformative journey as she confronts forgotten memories and repairs fractured bonds with those closest to her. This compassionate and humorous book shimmers with insights into the healing power of forgiveness, the struggle to find meaning and purpose, the compatibility of imperfection and happiness, and the ways that lost relationships—with friends, parents, siblings, spouse, and even self—can be rekindled.

Fans of Riding the Bus with My Sister and new readers alike will be drawn to Simon's masterful storytelling and profoundly life-affirming tale. Her story will resonate with anyone who's ever experienced the most universal human emotion—love, in its many forms—and wrestled with its hardest questions.“An intriguing narrative, punctuated by musings on everything from quitting to the definition of design to her life as a writer and public speaker. In this inspirational book, readers who have completed or are contemplating remodeling will empathize with Simon's frustration-induced fits of pique or the couple's rush of gratitude for a lovely home.”—Publishers Weekly

“Simon poignantly documents the next phase of her life, in which the home becomes a metaphor for the soul… An unsentimental, poetic appraisal of life’s big questions.”—Kirkus
 
Praise for Rachel Simon
"Simon brings an anthropologist's eye to her stories, describing characters, action, and emotion as if she were new to the weary world. By seeing anew what comes naturally to most of us—cognition, memory, hearing, speech—Simon illuminates her characters' interior lives and finds new and forgotten meaning."—Philadelphia InquirerRachel Simon is the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling memoir Riding the Bus with My Sister. Her other books include the novel The Magic Touch and a collection of short stories, Little Nightmares, Little Dreams. In addition to writing, she is a frequently sought-after speaker on disability issues and the steps people can take to improve their lives. She lives in Delaware, with her husband, Hal, on a street informally known as Teacher’s Lane.