What She Left Behind: A Haunting and Heartbreaking Story of 1920s Historical Fiction
Half a million copies sold!
The breakout novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Collector, What She Left Behind weaves together riveting stories of past and present, exploring the strength of women in two different times as they face adversity in two very different ways. Go inside the horrifying walls of a 1920s New York asylum as a wrongly imprisoned woman fights for what is most important to her—and meet the young woman confronting the pain and mystery of her own family’s mental illness two generations later.
Ten years ago, Izzy Stone’s mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother’s apparent insanity, Izzy, now seventeen, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy’s help in cataloging items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past.
Young flapper and suffragette Clara Cartwright is caught between her overbearing parents and her desire to be a modern woman. Furious when she rejects an arranged marriage, instead finding love with an Italian Immigrant, Clara’s father sends her to a genteel home for nervous invalids. But when his fortune is lost in the stock market crash of 1929, he can no longer afford her care—and Clara is committed to the public asylum.
Even as Izzy deals with the challenges of yet another new beginning, Clara’s story keeps drawing her into the past. If Clara was never really mentally ill, could something else explain her own mother’s violent act? Piecing together Clara’s fate compels Izzy to re-examine her own choices—with shocking and unexpected results.
“Screams with authenticity, depth, and understanding.”
—The New York Journal of Books
“A real page turner…will appeal to all readers of fiction.”
—The Historical Novels Review
“Amazing…A great read!”
—The San Francisco Book Review
“Will both haunt and inspire you… a moving, and at times chilling story that totally endears you to her characters.”
—SpaWeek
“A great coming-of-age story.”
—School Library Journal
The breakout novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Orphan Collector, What She Left Behind weaves together riveting stories of past and present, exploring the strength of women in two different times as they face adversity in two very different ways. Go inside the horrifying walls of a 1920s New York asylum as a wrongly imprisoned woman fights for what is most important to her—and meet the young woman confronting the pain and mystery of her own family’s mental illness two generations later.
Ten years ago, Izzy Stone’s mother fatally shot her father while he slept. Devastated by her mother’s apparent insanity, Izzy, now seventeen, refuses to visit her in prison. But her new foster parents, employees at the local museum, have enlisted Izzy’s help in cataloging items at a long-shuttered state asylum. There, amid piles of abandoned belongings, Izzy discovers a stack of unopened letters, a decades-old journal, and a window into her own past.
Young flapper and suffragette Clara Cartwright is caught between her overbearing parents and her desire to be a modern woman. Furious when she rejects an arranged marriage, instead finding love with an Italian Immigrant, Clara’s father sends her to a genteel home for nervous invalids. But when his fortune is lost in the stock market crash of 1929, he can no longer afford her care—and Clara is committed to the public asylum.
Even as Izzy deals with the challenges of yet another new beginning, Clara’s story keeps drawing her into the past. If Clara was never really mentally ill, could something else explain her own mother’s violent act? Piecing together Clara’s fate compels Izzy to re-examine her own choices—with shocking and unexpected results.
“Screams with authenticity, depth, and understanding.”
—The New York Journal of Books
“A real page turner…will appeal to all readers of fiction.”
—The Historical Novels Review
“Amazing…A great read!”
—The San Francisco Book Review
“Will both haunt and inspire you… a moving, and at times chilling story that totally endears you to her characters.”
—SpaWeek
“A great coming-of-age story.”
—School Library Journal
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Community Reviews
As a social worker I found this novel fascinating. The history of the two very different institutions that treated the mentally ill was interesting. The current day story read a bit like a YA novel and was a bit predictable but overall I would recommend this book.
I found that both of the stories told tore at me inside and moved me to tears multiple times. It wasn't an easy read for that reason, but it moved me. I felt sickened by what I read.
I didn't know about the forced sterilization in U.S. I knew a bit about the brutal conditions in mental hospitals, but this story illustrated how little regarded women were - strong independent women not afraid to speak their minds. How a father could have his daughter committed simply because she wouldn't marry the man of his choosing. How a doctor could steal a patient's child for his own and the mother of the child would have no rights. How an abusive husband could have his wife committed for infidelity. Oh the depravity of mankind! We can be such beasts to one another...
And yet the book ends with some needed healing, which thrilled me. I plan to read more by this author, but like with Tatiana de Rosnay's books, I'll need to keep the tissues handy.
I didn't know about the forced sterilization in U.S. I knew a bit about the brutal conditions in mental hospitals, but this story illustrated how little regarded women were - strong independent women not afraid to speak their minds. How a father could have his daughter committed simply because she wouldn't marry the man of his choosing. How a doctor could steal a patient's child for his own and the mother of the child would have no rights. How an abusive husband could have his wife committed for infidelity. Oh the depravity of mankind! We can be such beasts to one another...
And yet the book ends with some needed healing, which thrilled me. I plan to read more by this author, but like with Tatiana de Rosnay's books, I'll need to keep the tissues handy.
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