A daughter with a famous author mother - but left alone when her mother disappeared.

This was an interesting but slow story. Clara has been searching for her mother all her adult life. Her mother had elaborate stories, a silly made up language, and a famous book about this language and a little girl who goes on an adventure. She's missed the big and little moments with her mom, but mostly the language and the fun they had.

Now that Clara is a mom, she's determined to not leave her daughter. So when Clara gets a random phone call from a man in London saying he has found papers and a letter form her mother to her, she pulls out her meager savings, bundles her daughter up and rushes to London to see if she can learn what happened to her mother.

I really liked the mystery of what happened to her mother. I liked the made up fairy girl and the way both mothers tied the little stories and adventures into their times with their daughter. But I found so many parts of this story slow. And I found Clara so frustrating. I needed her to get herself together. She has a daughter with a chronic illness and she leaves the meds everywhere but never where they need them. She loses everything and guards nothing, even if it's the most important thing she's ever received in her life. I didn't feel the romance angle and really just felt like all of it was the space between getting back to the mystery. I liked the conclusion and the historical parts. I'd never known anything of the big London fog so I found that fascinating.

Interesting story that, even though slowed in a few parts, was an fascinating mystery that I enjoyed. I listened to this one and the narrators were great!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I love Patti Callahan Henry’s books, so The Story She Left Behind was an automatic read for me. The reviews are great for this book, so I am clearly an outlier in not connecting with it. However, I will be ready for Patti’s next book and pick up where we left off before this book!

The Story She Left Behind did have a unique plot. Clara has been left for 25 years not knowing what happened to her mother after she disappeared. She gets a surprising call saying from a man in England he has something of her mother’s that has to be given to her in person. This sets off a chain of events. I was really interested until Clara reached England and became very tired of the premise. Also, this doesn’t alternate points of view like I thought the summary made it seem.

Thank you to Atria Books, Patti Callahan Henry, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.

What a heart felt sympathetic story! I enjoyed this storyline so much! The way the characters were developed throughout the book was well done! This was a very good historical fiction book!

Patti does it again! She has quickly become one of my favourite writers of historical fiction. From the way she honours each character's voice and viewpoint to the way she weaves historical events into the storyline, I feel as though I was navigating the fog strikes streets of London alongside Clara, Wynnie & Charlie and escaping to the countryside.
Her words are detailed and visually descriptive without the reading taking on a heaviness or making it feel like work to process.
She has become an easy yes to add to my bookshelf.

This one hit me right in the heart. It follows a woman piecing together her mother’s past through an old diary found after her death, uncovering secrets that bring both pain and clarity. The dual timeline—weaving between past and present—feels seamless and emotionally resonant.

The writing is warm and lyrical, with family, identity, and forgiveness at its core. The mother-daughter relationship rings so true—flawed, loving, and full of longing. It’s a beautifully layered story about finding the pieces of who we are in the stories we inherit.

If you love heartfelt family dramas with a touch of mystery and emotional catharsis, this one’s absolutely worth reading.

This novel intertwines themes of family, love, abandonment, secrets, and motherhood, drawing me in from the very first page. The intricate layers of the story—Bronwyn’s mysterious disappearance, Clara’s relationship with her daughter Wynnie, Emjie’s journey and her sequel, the creation of a new language, and the societal restrictions placed on women in the early 20th century—were beautifully woven together.
Atmospheric and utterly captivating, this book is a compelling exploration of resilience and identity. I highly recommend it!
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This story was a wonderful mix of mysterious and reflective. The emotions were raw and I felt like I was along for the ride right along with the main character. The infusion of magic in this realistic story added a nice layer. The mystery of the Clare's mother added a good pace to the story that contrasted the slower pace of Clare's self discovery. The depictions of the English countryside were immersive. Overall, a heartwarming read that I would definitely recommend!

3.5 stars

So many people have RAVED about this book, and I'm glad I read it for an upcoming book club. The story is emotional, poignant, mysterious, and sweet. I loved the historical fiction elements and the fact that this was based on a true story featuring real people (like Beatrix Potter). The journey through the story was heartwrenching with a constant silver lining of hope.

I think I may just not be the intended audience here, though... I have read two books by Patti Callahan Henry including this one and both feel like a Hallmark movie to me. They read more like women's fiction and the addition of the romance was clunky to me. Of course, I think this is why most people love them, but they're not as much to my taste. I may just not be the right reader for this.

Others will LOVE this, and I still highly recommend this one if you love stories about family, forgiveness, second chances, authors, and escaping into the English countryside.

This book is so beautiful, thoughtful, whimsical, magical, mysterious gripping, touching.. all the things! I couldn’t put it down. It is a beautiful story about motherhood and the way having a mother and being a mother so deeply touches all of humanity. This book isn’t written from a Christian perspective, but as a Christian, I see the themes of brokenness, grace and forgiveness woven throughout. It’s just one of the most lovely books I’ve read in awhile.

The Secret Book of Flora Lea was one of my favorite books of 2024 so I was overjoyed to receive an early copy of Patti Callahan Henry's newest novel.

Unfortunately, The Story She Left Behind did not have the same impact for me as The Secret Book of Flora Lea and I was really underwhelmed by the plot and the storytelling.

When she was 8 years old, Clara’s mother, a famous author, completely disappears. Now, it’s 25 years later and Clara - a mother to her own daughter - receives a phone call from London from a family that claims to have a long lost manuscript that once belonged to her mother. So Clara and her daughter journey to London to see if she can find any answers about her mother.

This just didn't come together at all for me. The writing style felt juvenile and disjointed and the connections between the characters and the historical events of the time were not very strong. There were some emotional moments and a good mysterious quality to the story but neither the emotion nor the mystery ever really landed for me. I struggled to stay invested. I wanted to love this one so much, but it just wasn't the right read for me.

Thank you to Atria Books for the opportunity to read an advanced copy through NetGalley.

4.5 TY to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. This is a sweeping story that begins in the South Carolina and goes to London during the "Great Smog" and end in the English countryside. Each beautiful setting is almost a character unto itself. Clara's story is intriguing, heartbreaking and so full of mystery and I hung on every word until it's conclusion. I think you will too!

In 1952, Clara, an illustrator and single mother, is contacted by an unknown man in London. The man, Charlie Jameson, has handwritten pages authored by her mother who vanished when she was a child. She and her daughter travel to London to retrieve the pages. They did not expect to develop a friendship with Charlie and his family. And, they certainly did not expect the unravelling mystery that awaited them.
This book is written beautifully and tackles multi-generational mother-daughter relationships. I found that the child, Wynnie, was a very annoying character. But, otherwise, the book was beautiful and compelling.

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry

I was first intrigued by this novel when I heard it was inspired by a true literary mystery. Patti Callahan Henry is a wonderful wordsmith and storyteller, so I knew I was in good hands. However, I did not expect to be so drawn into the story and the lives of these characters. The beautiful, descriptive prose with the addition of the historical events helped to bring the setting to life and I did not want to leave! The author’s love of language and books are embedded within these pages, just waiting to magically reveal themselves to the reader. I highly recommend you give it a perusal; you won’t be disappointed!

Thank you to Patti Callahan Henry, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this e-galley and share my thoughts.

The Story She Left Behind is inspired by a true literary mystery. It is told in a dual timeline, in 1927, after Clara’s mother, a famous author, disappeared, and in 1952, when Clara is grown and receives a phone call from England claiming to have her mother’s handwritten dictionary for a book that she left behind.

The pacing for this book was very slow, with very detailed descriptions, and some of the details seemed far-fetched to me. I did not find myself rooting for any of the characters. I did, however, learn about the Great Fog of 1952, which sent me down a rabbit hole to learn more about that.

I received a digital ARC of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

Clara and Wynie set off on adventure to reclaim Clara’s mother’s dictionary- the key to her famous book’s sequel. Little do they know, that a whole other world is waiting for them as they head to England. This was a delightful read- romantic and whimsical, possibly a bit predictable but worth the time.

The Story She Left Behind is an emotional and hopeful historical fiction perfect for the reader looking for something substantial but not too heavy (as some HF can be really heavy). I really loved this story and taking the journey with these characters. I will absolutely read whatever Patti Callahan Henry writes next.

I was excited to pick this new release up by Patti Callahan Henry as I know she has been a favorite author of my mom's. Unfortunately, this book fell a little flat for me. The story was fine, the characters were fine but there was not enough excitement for me in this book for being a historical fiction. I think those who stay true to the author will enjoy this one as it makes a good spring/summer read.

I will say that this cover is one of my favorites of the year!

An epic tale of family, friends, love and forgiveness told in alternating timelines. Patti Callahan Henry paints lovely pictures with words describing beautiful settings so rich you feel you are there. The story starts off strong drawing the reader in but does drag a bit later. However the characters are likable and I was invested enough to see how it ended. Lovely book and lovely cover! My thanks to Atria Books for providing a review copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. A beautiful, well-written story that will keep you turning pages quickly and not wanting it to end.

In this Historical Mystery by Patti Henry, it’s a heartwarming story about love, loss and reuniting with one’s past. Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham at age 12 became a child prodigy author of a bestselling book for children. In 1927, she went missing from their home in South Carolina and left her young daughter, Clara, age 8, behind.

Clara and her father misses Bronwyn terribly and the mystery was never solved as to what happened to her.

Clara, in her adult life becomes a teacher and an illustrator, and even won the Caldecott Award. Clara is now divorced and has a daughter of her own named Wynnie. Clara and Wynnie lives in Clara’s childhood home with her father.

Meanwhile Charlie Jameson, living in England, after his father’s death finds in his father’s library a satchel containing a dictionary. In the satchel also contains a letter that was to be given to Clara. The dictionary appears to be Bronwyn’s secret language, the same secret language she used to write her first book.

Clara travels to England with Wynnie to see what clues may be in the satchel to finally answer questions about her mother’s death. While in England, the Great Smog of England strikes. Nonetheless, Clara and Charlie together try to answer the many questions that exists and ultimately it connects the two of them together in ways they never knew could happen.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.