Houses Never Leave You

Told from multiple perspectives, Houses Never Leave You is the story of the Thomford family: Vic, an air traffic controller who participates in the 1981 air traffic controllers strike, and his wife, Mary Agnes, who initially supports him but then doubts his wisdom in taking on Ronald Reagan and the Federal Aviation Administration. When Vic is fired, the aftermath of the strike has a lasting impact on Mary Agnes and their children, especially Eleanor, their daughter.

Mary Agnes tells the story from two points of view: one told in flashbacks on the anniversaries of the strike, and the other told in present day as she suffers from dementia during the Covid pandemic. Her daughter, Eleanor, also tells her own story, as she tries to navigate marriage and motherhood with the shadow of her parents’ decisions and choices shaping her own life and outcomes. Eleanor’s son, Michael, also narrates, as he witnesses his mother’s return home to care for her mother and to try and break the generational curses that have followed her since the day her father sacrificed his family for his conscience.