Homecoming - Facts

 

Most of the events take place in a village in the Adelaide Hills. The Adelaide Hills, located just 20 minutes east of Adelaide in South Australia, is a scenic, cool-climate region in the Mount Lofty Ranges known for its premium wineries, historic German villages like Hahndorf, and artisan food. It is a premier year-round destination for nature walks, wildlife spotting, and relaxed country charm.

When Percy discovers the family, he mentions that he was worried about the dry summer, and he makes reference to Black Sunday, a very hot summer in 1955, which caused many fires. The 1955 Black Sunday bushfires occurred on January 2, 1955, in South Australia, destroying 40,000 hectares of land in the Mount Lofty Ranges, including the Vice-Regal summer residence at Marble Hill. The fires, triggered by fallen power lines, resulted in 2 deaths, over 50 injuries, and destroyed many homes.

Hahndorf is a nearby town. Hahndorf is a small town in South Australia. Settled by 19th-century Lutheran migrants, it’s known for its original German-style architecture and artisanal food. 

When we first meet Jess, she talks about the Charles Dickens Museum in London. The Charles Dickens Museum is an author's house museum at 48 Doughty Street in King's Cross, in the London Borough of Camden. It occupies a typical Georgian terraced house which was Charles Dickens's home from 25 March 1837 to December 1839. 

She mentions Robert William Buss's unfinished portrait of Charles Dickens. On hearing of Dickens' death in June 1870, Buss was moved to attempt a large watercolor, 'Dickens's Dream', which now hangs in the Charles Dickens Museum in London. The painting portrays the dozing author seated in his Gad's Hill Place study surrounded by many of the characters he had created.

Evie, the little girl, enjoys watching animals. She mentions that she loves waching platypus and monotremes. 

The platypus is a semiaquatic, egg-laying mammal endemic to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. 

Monotremes  are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only mammals still in existence which lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The five extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas.

Her favourite flower is the golden wattle. 

When the police are investigating the death of the family, the make referene to the Somerton man case in 1948. The Somerton Man is an unidentified man whose body was found on 1 December 1948 on the beach at Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide. Since the early stages of the police investigation, the case has been considered "one of Australia's most profound mysteries".

Polly lives in Brisbane. Brisbane, capital of Queensland, is a large city on the Brisbane River.

The herb that Matilda had because she thought she was pregant in pennyroyal. Pennyroya is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, native to Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Crushed pennyroyal leaves emit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint. Pennyroyal is a traditional folk remedy, emmenagogue, abortifacient, and culinary herb, but is toxic to the liver and has caused some deaths.

There is a reference to Medea, the woman who killed her children to punish her husband, Jason. In Euripides' tragedy Medea (431 BCE), the protagonist Medea kills her two children with a sword to ruin her husband Jason, who betrayed her by marrying the princess of Corinth. She commits this act to cause Jason maximum pain, reasoning that a life without a future is worse than death. After the murder, she escapes in a flying chariot.

Isabel had a collection of Japanese netsukes. A netsuke is a miniature sculpture, originating in 17th century Japan. Initially a simply-carved button fastener on the cords of an inrō box, netsuke later developed into ornately sculpted objects of craftsmanship.

A puffer is a poisonous fish which has a vital part in the book.  They are morphologically similar to the closely related porcupinefish, which have large external spines. The majority of pufferfish species are toxic, with some among the most poisonous vertebrates in the world.