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
I couldn’t put the book down! I loved everything about it. The emotion you felt from each character as you turned the page had me feeling everything they felt. I would recommend it to anyone looking to get lost & looking to enter the world of Carla & Izzy.
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 thought I was going to like this book more. It was fast paced and a quick read. I liked the writing style, alternating POV's and time frames.
In 1929, Clara is 18 years old and is torn between her overbearing parents and her Italian immigrant boyfriend. when Clara refuses the arranged marriage her father has made for her, he sends her away to a mental hospital for having a breakdown. When the economy crashes and he can no longer afford to pay for her "care", she is sent to a state run asylum.
In 1995, Izzy is almost 18 and living with her foster parents after her mother fatally shot her father while sleeping. Izzy and her foster parents are working on a project cataloguing left behind items at a state run asylum. Among the abandoned items, Izzy finds a stack a unopened letters, a journal and maybe something from her own past.
I liked Clara's story better. I was curious to see how it would turn out. Was Clara really mentally insane? Izzy's felt a bit contrived to me. I felt like the ending was to rushed and somewhat unbelievable. I liked The Life She Was Given but I will still read other books by this author.
In 1929, Clara is 18 years old and is torn between her overbearing parents and her Italian immigrant boyfriend. when Clara refuses the arranged marriage her father has made for her, he sends her away to a mental hospital for having a breakdown. When the economy crashes and he can no longer afford to pay for her "care", she is sent to a state run asylum.
In 1995, Izzy is almost 18 and living with her foster parents after her mother fatally shot her father while sleeping. Izzy and her foster parents are working on a project cataloguing left behind items at a state run asylum. Among the abandoned items, Izzy finds a stack a unopened letters, a journal and maybe something from her own past.
I liked Clara's story better. I was curious to see how it would turn out. Was Clara really mentally insane? Izzy's felt a bit contrived to me. I felt like the ending was to rushed and somewhat unbelievable. I liked The Life She Was Given but I will still read other books by this author.
Awful, just awful. Very sad and tragic. I listed this as a horror story, because the treatment of the mentally ill was just so horrible and abusive, it was like reading a horror story, but so much worse, because this actually happened to people. This is similar to a book I read earlier in the summer, Moral Treatment, which was anything but moral. In both books, a young woman is held in an insane asylum by her parents, against her will. This one is doubly horrible since the young girl was thrown into this situation because her parents did not like the person she loved and wanted to her to marry another. However, she is already pregnant. As her parents situation changes, she is forced to go from a private facility to a much worse state-run facility. If you like reading about unspeakable horrors and injustice to women, you might like this one, but otherwise, steer clear.
I went back and forth on how to rate this - 3 or 4 stars. I flew through this book so I did enjoy it but I didn't like some aspects of it.
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