Some Other Place. The Right Place. is a novel by Donald Harington which was published in 1973. It is a story about growing up and understanding how the world works. There are many aspects to life and all must be realized before true growth occurs.
The book was adapted into the film Return in 1985.
Plot overview
Diana Stoving seeks out Day Whittacker, the 18-year-old boy whose English teacher claims through hypnotism and age regression is Diana's dead grandfather Daniel Lyam Montross. Diana and Day travel together in search of the truth behind the hypnotism and Daniel's life. Intermixed with finding truth are unforeseen romances and events leading Diana and Day to unimaginable truths.
Extended plot
Overture
Diana and Susan are driving when they hit a pot hole and must stop at a dealership. While there, Diana reads an article about age regression and decides to meet the teacher hypnotist that the article is about. After Susan leaves, Diana poses as a reporter and meets Mr. Sedgely who tells her about Day Whittacker after she shows interest in the boy claiming to be Daniel Lyam Montross. Diana goes to the Whittacker house and poses as a Life magazine researcher. As Diana leaves, Day rushes out and asks for the truth. A few days after Diana's visit, Day disappears.
Diana and Day go to Mr. Sedgely's house so Diana can see Day hypnotized. Mr. Sedgely enables Diana to put Day into a hypnotized state by saying, “Go to sleep.” Day cannot remember anything that happens under hypnosis. The next day Diana and Day leave for Connecticut and Diana puts Day to sleep, but cannot figure out how to wake him up. As such, Day finally awakes disoriented and wanting to go back home. Eventually, the two arrive at Cornwall and are searching for Dudleytown in heavy rain. Day asks Miss Evans how to reach Dudleytown and she tells them of a road. The car gets stuck and Diana and Day must continue on foot. They find some cellar holes and Day builds a fire after the rain stops. They travel in the wrong direction and find shelter under a boulder. Diana hypnotizes Day and has “Daniel” lead her to his house.
When Day awakens, they find the car and stay at the McDonough Motor Lodge where they learn the legend of Dudleytown and eat. That night, the two decide to stick together because neither has anything to believe in and they talk throughout the night. When Diana wakes up the next day, she thinks she is dreaming. She buys camping gear and finds Day hitchhiking when she returns because he thought that she left him. The two then set up camp and find a waterfall while hiking. Diana quickly skinny-dips but feels someone watching. However, Day is cooking dinner when she returns and they relax.
First Movement: Landscape with Two Figures
The first chapter goes into the past from Daniel's perspective at his birth. He was unwanted and just another mouth to feed. With Diana and Day, it is the next day and Diana goes shopping while Day digs. He gets put into a hypnotic state to determine what he dug up. During this time, both Diana and Day doubt the existence of Daniel. Going back to Daniel, his childhood was filled with a sickly mother and a severe father; at one point Daniel tried to avoid punishment by jumping out of a tree. Luckily, the tree saved him from falling to his death.
During Diana and Day's time together, Diana has been recording Daniel's life and keeping a journal. As Daniel gets older, he learns about the truth behind babies and gets teased for not having a girlfriend until Hattie Rose Pearl says that she will be his and brings him candy. Diana realizes the attraction between her and Day, but does not want to be the first to act and actually avoids him.
Daniel joins the Oatsowers' Club and loses his virginity at age 11 to his cousin Violate. Diana makes a list of what she wishes to accomplish with Day, they dance, and Day finally listens to the recordings of Daniel. In the next section, the life of Diana and Day and Daniel combines. Diana and Day have sex while Daniel attempts to sleep with Hattie. At the point where Daniel is about to, Diana puts Day to sleep and has sex with Daniel. Later, Diana believes she's fallen in love with Daniel and she does not want to give Day attention. With Daniel, his parents actually found him and Hattie together and his mother demands that Daniel be punished. In actuality, Daniel's father is proud and only pretends to whoop Daniel.
At this time, people are leaving Dudleytown and Violate decides that she wants Daniel, cheating on her boyfriend Renz. As Diana is out driving, she runs into an old man and asks him questions about the people that used to live in Dudleytown. Diana tries and fails to correlate the information from the old man and Daniel. Day tells Diana that no matter what happens, he loves her. Daniel narrates within the story of Diana and Day, saying that he loves Diana, but cannot be with her; therefore, he is giving her Day. Day courts Diana with singing and poem recitations and Diana dances.
In Daniel's life, most of his family has left, except for his parents, his feeble-minded sister, and him. Daniel and Charity, his sister, perform sexual acts, eventually leading to sex. Charity becomes pregnant and leaves with her mother. Daniel learns of the family curse and his father is killed. He buries him alone and then his sick mother arrives. Seven guests arrive at Diana and Day's camp demanding food and drink before they go skinny-dipping at the waterfall. Marijuana gets passed around after the swim. Daniel must take care of his mother, when he suddenly remembers Diana and when he opens his eyes he thinks Zephaniah is Renz. Daniel describes when he tried to kill Renz. Diana's perspective is given about their seven guests. She wants them to leave, but they will not. She thinks Day is sleeping with Vashti, but she already slept with Zephaniah and cannot say anything. Zephaniah borrows Diana's car with the promise that he and his friends will leave as soon as he returns.
Jeeps arrive with men that want to scare everyone away, but also have sex with the girls. One of the men, George, attempts to go after one of the girls and Day attacks him. Eventually, everyone fought and ran away. Diana and Day hide out under the boulder until everyone is gone. Daniel sends his mother back to Illinois and leaves Dudleytown and heads to Vermont. Diana and Day leave Dudleytown on foot to follow Daniel's path to Vermont as fall begins.
Second Movement: “The Unfinished”
Day and Diana travel to Five Corners, Vermont. Day lied to Diana because he told her he'd never heard of Dudleytown or Five Corners, when he actually has. Day wonders if he made Diana up when they finally reach Five Corners. As Daniel's story continues, it is found out that he became a mail carrier, but he lost his job after staying at the celebration too long. However, he becomes a school teacher and stays with bachelor Jake Claghorn.
Day and Diana use Daniel's memories to learn how to do things such as make hard apple cider. While drunk, Day and Diana read each other's diaries and quarrel the next day. While Daniel is school teacher, he becomes closer to Rachel and she tells him her story of going off with a man. Daniel meets Henry Fox and learns life lessons. Rachel and Daniel continue their sexual relationship until Rachel's mother catches them and blackmails Daniel into a sexual relationship with her.
The question of an IT gets asked and Diana wonders if she has one, meaning a personal identity. Day bakes Diana a cake and makes her a necklace for her birthday, but she pouts about not getting what she wants so she hypnotizes Day and gets Daniel to giver her what she wants. Day and Daniel dance in the snow. Rachel catches Daniel and her mother together. Daniel continues teaching and works as a farmhand for Jirah Allen during the summer. Daniel stays with Rachel's family during the next school year and lives in the shed. Rachel began acting crazy that summer.
Day turns 19 and Diana does nothing, but Daniel speaks to Day's subconscious. Diana tells Day about her life and then leaves to clear up the cemetery. When Diana fails to return, Day searches for her and she has been shot. Day carries her to a farmhouse and wakes up at the hospital. When both are healed, they return to Five Corners because Diana says there is unfinished business. Day tries to become intimate with Diana, but gets stopped. Day summarizes Daniel's last few years at Five Corners where he worked as a carpenter, was briefly engaged with Rachel, and protected Henry Fox. Day suspects that Diana is in love with Daniel and he tells Diana of his childhood. That night, Day takes Diana while she sleeps.
In Henry Fox's last tape, Daniel asks what love is. He finds out the Rachel is Henry Fox's daughter and that love requires two people to be willing to share everything and see each other as they really are. Daniel kills Marshall Allen the next day and leaves Five Corners. Day and Diana fight, resulting in Day attempting to hang himself from a tree.
Third Movement: There and Here
Poems telling the story of Lost Cove. Diana and Day travel south and are oblivious about their love towards each other. They must cross a ravine and find a deserted town with buildings still standing. When Daniel first arrives at Lost Cove, he sees three girls washing, one of which ends up as his future lover. Daniel is neither loved or hated in Lost Cove, but his carpentry skills allowed him peace to stay there. No one particularly liked Daniel and he was often made fun of for his name and accent. Daniel got sick, but was healed by Aunt Billie Ledyard. Daniel tries to befriend her husband, but gets turned away.
Diana and Day are unused to being alone without the woods. They have difficulty building a fire, when the ghost of Flossie arrives. Day runs away and Diana gets told not to put her monthly rags in the fire, in which Diana informs the spirit that she is pregnant. Flossie gets angry because Diana and Day are unmarried. However, Flossie teaches them how to survive but meddles, so they beg Daniel to get rid of her. Daniel gets her to leave, but return for Christmas. Diana refuses to listen to Day and buys Christmas decorations and gifts, which depresses Day. Still, he searches for mistletoe for Diana.
Daniel is still considered a stranger at Lost Cove at Christmas, but he leaves wooden toys for all the children in the hope of being accepted. He forgot about Amney and begs forgiveness. Diana and Day miss Flossie, but have furnished the house with furniture from other abandoned homes. They work on their lives together. Diana still struggles with knowing who she is. Flossie arrives and is unwelcomed until Diana and Day experience cabin fever. Then, they listen to all of Flossie's stories until she eventually tells the tale of Dan Montross.
The Ghost's Song and Other Selected Poems
Flossie sets the mood for her tale and uses sticks to represent aspects of Dan's life. The first is the carpenter, The second stick is Dan's rifle gun because he was an impressive shot. The third stick is simply wood for the fires Dan watched when he made moonshine for bartering purposes. The fourth stick represents a hitching post because Dan got a black hose named Henry. The fifth and sixth sticks are Dan's fiddle and bow that he taught himself to play. The seventh stick stands for a 3D image contraption that Dan traded for. The eighth stick represents the law coming for Dan. Flossie, then ninth stick, hides him and his horse. Frankie, Flossie's daughter, is the tenth stick that Dan and his best friend Swinn, the eleventh stick, fought over. The twelfth stick is Dan's motto, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Flossie does not explicitly explain the thirteenth stick, only that it caused at least half his trouble and half his pleasure.