The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry

The Story She Left Behind is a rich and beautiful story that captivates your attention right from the first chapter.

Favourite Quote: 

The unseen world has always called to her. She knows what she must do—she will become unseen. This was the answer for the character that she created, and this is her answer. Their destinies were always tangled together, she knows that now.

Book Synopsis: 

In 1927, in Bluffton, South Carolina, a famous American—former child prodigy author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham—disappears, abandoning her eight-year-old daughter and husband. She leaves behind a sequel to her children’s fantasy blockbuster about a young girl named Emjie who is caught between worlds. But the sequel is written in the author’s secret and untranslatable created language.

Now in 1952, Bronwyn’s lost words have been discovered in a private library in England by a man called Charlie Jameson. Bronwyn’s daughter, Clara Harrington, a children’s book illustrator and divorced mother of one, goes on a quest to England to retrieve the lost words of her mother, words she believes will translate the sequel and help her discover what happened and why her mother abandoned her. Clara takes along her own eight-year-old daughter, Winnie, who is precocious, funny, and wise, and who has an imaginary friend, also called Emjie, after her lost grandmother’s novel.

But when Clara and Wynnie sail to England, they arrive during one of London’s greatest natural disasters—the Great Smog. Wynnie is a fragile child with asthma and the air is deadly. Charlie Jameson helps them escape London and make their way to his family’s country home in the Lake District, where the tale unfolds in the wild and glorious landscape of Esthwaite Water and the land of Beatrix Potter. It is there that the tangled roots that tie Charlie and Clara together will be revealed, and the fate—not only of Emjie, but of Bronwyn herself—will come to light. 

Review: 

I’m a huge fan of Patti’s books, and I’m always excited when I see that she has a new one out. For those new to Patti’s stories, her narratives are often quieter and unfold at a slower pace. There is usually also some literary connection or focus in her books that makes reading her stories that much more enjoyable, especially for anyone who is a fan of classic children’s novels. One of the many things I love about Patty’s writing is her ability to bring to life any setting in which her books are set. Her descriptions are lush and vivid, and I always feel as though I am being transported to the place her characters find themselves in. For the majority of this book, we get to spend our time in England a few years after the war. The history buff in me was fascinated by what it was like for people to live in London after the war. The thick fog that was caused by the burning of cheap coal that blanketed the city was something I never knew would happen. It was interesting to see what it was like for people to live through such an experience. 

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I ended up devouring it on a rainy Saturday while curled up in my reading chair. I will admit it took a couple of chapters to really immerse myself in this story. The first chapter was slightly vague and felt distant, but now that I’ve read the story, I understand why it was written in that way. We aren’t meant to know why Bronwyn is leaving her family, and her character is supposed to be this mystery that we aren’t meant to understand until the very end of the story. I liked that softer, shall I say, cozy mystery that existed in this book. There are some dramatic twists, but nothing that will get your heart racing. The twists were just unexpected and gave this bookworm a different reading experience than she expected, which wasn’t a bad thing. 

I enjoyed all the characters. It was fascinating seeing how they all ended up being connected to each other, sometimes in more heartfelt and interesting ways. I adored Clara’s daughter, who believes in magic and sees the world in that childlike wonderment that just can’t help but remind you why children are so darn amazing. I liked Clara; there is just something about her character that draws you in, and I loved being a part of her journey to retrieve her mother’s lost papers. The romantic in me also devoured and swooned over the budding romance between Clara and Charlie. Their interactions were so sweet and charming. 

The Story She Left Behind is another beautiful and captivating story by the talented Patti Callahan Henry.