I was granted an ARC through NetGalley and, as usual, Ms. Patti Callahan Henry has written an incredible novel that takes you beyond reality to an incredible world of intrigue, love and suspense. Loosely based on a true story, the novel spans over 25 years, through a dark time in England and with a remarkable ending of forgiveness and treasure. You won’t regret picking up this awesome novel, it will stay with you for days, weeks and months to come. Five stars and many thanks to this amazing author .

The Story She Left Behind is an interesting historical novel based on true events in the life of Barbara Newhall Follet. In this story, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham pens a book at a very young age. After a tragic accident, Bronwyn disappears leaving her husband and young daughter Clara without an explanation. Years later Clara is now divorced and a mother herself. When a call comes from England telling her a satchel has been found containing papers belonging to her mother, she doesn't hesitate to book passage to England for herself and her daughter Wynnie. This is a compelling novel about family secrets and mystery. Thanks to author Patti Callahan Henry, Atria Books, and NetGalley for providing a complimentary copy of this ebook for review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

The Story She Left Behind is a story about the disappearance of author Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, a woman famous for creating her own language and publishing a novel at the young age of 12, that is loosely inspired by the true story of the disappearance of an author under similar circumstances in the 1920s. Bronwyn leaves behind her loving husband and her 8-year-old daughter Clara when she disappears in the middle of the night in South Carolina. The book jumps forward in time to the mid 1950s with Clara as the primary narrator, when she receives a mysterious phone call from a gentleman in London claiming to have her mother's long-lost dictionary that will aid her in translating her mother's 2nd novel and hopefully solve her financial woes as a recently divorced single mother. Clara, and her daughter Wynnie, embark for England to claim the lost papers, arriving in London just in time for one of the most notable natural disasters of the last century, The Great Smog. With Wynnie's health at risk, they escape London for the Lake District and continue to seek the truth behind how Bronwyn's papers ended up with Charlie's family, and what really happened to Bronwyn when she left her family behind.
As with previous books by Patti Callahan Henry, this novel is clearly well researched and beautifully written, but also heavy on the melodrama, with a semi predictable resolution to the mysterious disappearance of Bronwyn. There is also a romantic subplot, that for me felt only semi developed, as the characters seem to fall into an instant attraction/love. Overall, this was a solid new book for this author, and with only minor criticism, I enjoyed it and give it a solid 4-star rating.
Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.

I am a big fan of Patti Callahan Henry and will read anything that she writes. This one took longer to engage me, but once it did, I was hooked.
The Story She Left Behind has at its center a missing woman, who as a 12 year old created a magical bestseller with its own mystical language. But as a mother of an eight year old, she leaves her family in the middle of the night, never to be seen again. Twenty five years later, Clara, her daughter, a young mother herself, gets a call from a man in London. A man who holds her mother’s missing dictionary which will allow the sequel she was writing to be translated.
The book is loosely based on a true story of Barbara Newhall, Follett, a child prodigy author who went missing as an adult. The Great Smog of London truly did occur in 1952. Henry does an excellent job of placing you in the midst of the miasma. I also felt totally transported to the Lake District.
The writing, as always, is beautiful and stunning in its own right. The sections about language truly captured me. There is an almost magical feel to this story. While that often doesn’t work for me, it did here. I think mainly because while the story is told mostly from Clara’s POV, it was Wynnie who truly captured my heart. And Pippa! I just adored Pippa. The themes of loss, abandonment, moving forward and forgiveness rang true.
My thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for an advance copy of this book.

There's a little bit of mystery, romance, and magical realism in this historical fiction. This fictionalized account of a true story takes us from the coastal rivers of South Carolina to the toxic fog of post-war London, and to Beatrix Potter's Cumbria. With a strong sense of time and place the book starts with a phone call about papers Clara's mother had left in the hands of Charlie's recently deceased father. Together they try to figure out the mystery that impacts both of their families. This was a great read that took my mind away from a stormy day.

The Story She Left Behind is a historical fiction book based on the true story of Barbara Newhall Follet. In the book, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham leaves her home, her husband, and her 8-year-old daughter, Clara, in 1927 and disappears. Twenty-five years later, Clara is a recently divorced teacher and illustrator of children's books with an 8-year-old of her own, named Wynnie, after her mother Bronwyn. She receives a message from Charlie Jamison, a gentleman in London whose father has recently died. While going through his father's library, he has found a handwritten dictionary of her mother's lost language which will help to translate her manuscript. Though skeptical about its contents, Clara and Wynnie board a ship and begin to make their way to London to see it. Wynnie is asthmatic and while in London, they experience The Great Smog. Mr. Jamison meets them there and helps them escape the smog to his mother's home in the country by the lake. While there, Clara is shown her mother's dictionary labeled for Clara only. The rest of the book lets us accompany Clara on her intriguing quest to discover more about her mother's life and writing in the past twenty-five years. The story has surprising twists and turns along the way and many descriptions of the beauty of the English countryside. The author's strong appreciation of nature comes through in this, yet another, of her beautiful books, and the reader feels that they are present at the site of the story. With an air of mystery and intrigue, this is another of Patti C. Henry's enjoyable, memorable stories!

Thank you to Net Galley and Atria Books for gifting me this ebook for me to read and give my honest review.

Oh, so many wonderful things to say about this book. 5 glowing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book has the same charms of Patti Callahan Henry’s other novels. A bit of whimsy, mystery, a lost family, love, and forgiveness. The way she weaves all of these into her stories is magical!

I really resonated with the characters in this novel. All of them were so real - I loved the way they came alive. I loved them all, especially the precocious Wynnie. It sounds cliche, but I felt like they were new friends by the end of the book.

The book was very well written, no parts that seemed to lag out drag. I liked the short chapters… made it easy to stay with the story when it was told in alternating characters.

My one suggestion, not a complaint, would be to have a small “dictionary” that the reader could reference. There were many words, both in the lost language and in Gaelic, that were referenced multiple times; I would have loved to have a reference to remind myself of their meaning.

This really is one of my favorite 2024 reads!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for and advanced copy.

Richly imagined settings, a mystery to be solved, a hint of romance and characters that you will want to encourage and protect. Callahan Henry elevates what could be a simple mystery into something much more resonant and fulfilling. Love the entwined stories of other literary and artistic figures.

Thank you Netgalley and Atria Books for an advanced e-copy! My opinion is my own!

I just finished The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry, and it was such a beautiful, emotional read. It’ was about uncovering family secrets and finding resilience through love and loss, set against the lovely backdrop of Bluffton, South Carolina! The writing is vivid, but I’ll admit it dragged a little in the middle. Still, the characters stayed with me, and the ending was so satisfying. It’s out in March, and if you’re in the mood for something layered and heartfelt, I’d say grab it.
P.S. The inspiration for this book was a real person: Barbara Newhall Follet.

This story is beautifully written. It is filled with wonder and reminds us what it is to be human , make mistakes and then find forgiveness. I highly recommend this book.

Loved this. Solid plot. Strong character development. Wonderfully atmospheric. Pretty compulsive read. She is a favorite author of mine and this is just the kind of storytelling I love from her.

I've read a number of Patti Callahan Henry’s books and have pretty much liked all of them. But this one is more than just a likeable story. This story is compelling.
A very talented artist from a small town in the Carolinas is haunted by her mother’s disappearance twenty-five years earlier. That wouldn't be such an unusual storyline, except we immediately begin to find out what an unusual person her mother was. Clara’s mother’s disappearance haunts her especially because the world has not forgotten the unusual novel Bronwyn wrote at age 12 in an invented language. She is left wrestling with the consequences on a daily basis.
Into the midst of Clara’s life comes a phone call from England. A man she does not know has a letter addressed to her and a satchel full of papers with indecipherable words. It can only be the lost dictionary that would allow Clara to translate the unpublished sequel to her mother’s novel.
With unsupportable hope, Clara packs up her daughter and heads to London. In the early fifties, London experienced a killer fog from a combination of coal soot and dampness. Clara’s daughter has severe asthma and Clara, who has now met the man with the papers and retrieved them, must get out of the city. Charlie will take Clara and Wynnie to his parents country home in Cumbria. But disaster follows when a person they offer a ride to steals the papers and Clara’s purse.
As you can see, the story is difficult to distill down to a few words. I'm only half done as I write this review and already I don't want it to end. In short, Patti is an excellent storyteller and I love this book. Why? I like stories that make me feel different inside when I'm done. This is one of them.

My favorite quote from this novel: “Forgiveness (is) only the beginning of what might come next, not the end of what (has) already happened.”

This isn't my favorite of her books. Her writing is always good, but I didn't feel as though I could connect to any of the characters. It felt as though they spent more time talking about doing things instead of actually doing them and it took me away from the story a bit.

I personally think this book would have benefited from a dual timeline. Instead of Charlie's chapters, I would have loved to have seen chapters from Bronwyn's POV as she grew up. I think it would have been much better for understanding her fears and shame, making it a more emotional story. It just felt a little flat in this one. Charlie's POV didn't really do much for me other than furthering the romance and it just seemed like there was too much going in.

I'm also not sure how I feel about what happened towards the end. I believe if her mother purposely left clues, it would have been better. Or if it didn't happen at all and Clara had to really have to come to terms with losing her mother after finding something else.

There was a lot of drama to this story, but none of it really drew me in. I kept finding myself distracted and I usually didn't with her books.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me engaged and it only took a few days to read. I think this is going to be a good book club option for several clubs. I plan recommending to my book friends and I look forward to reading more by this author.

This is a story of a lost mother and a daughter trying to find her. Based on a true story, Patti Callahan Henry crafted a book of intense love between a mother and child. This book was an exquisite read, totally captivating as the words flow...with perfect character development. This is a novel that will resonate with me and one that I will buy for my two daughters. My review will appear on Goodreads and eventually Amazon. My thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. My thanks also to Ms. Henry as her books always treat me to "excellent" reading.

"The Story She Left Behind" is another amazing read by one of the best storytellers, Patti Callahan. Patti creates magic in her writing, and her characters really come to life. Based on a true story, this book has it all: family relationships, mystery, and some romance. I definitely recommend this book.

Based on the real life mystery of child prodigy author Barbara Newhall Follet, who disappeared at age 25, never to be seen or heard from again. The author seems to have taken some important details from the real person's life but also taken it in an entirely different direction. It was quite imaginative, interesting and heartfelt although I do wish the romance side story had been left out. That made it a little implausible, but this was still a good read! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reading copy.

I really enjoyed this book and the characters. Loved the daughter with her yellow glasses. The relationship between the MFC and MMC was heartwarming and, for me, believable. Just made me feel good reading the book. I kept thinking about the story when at work and couldn't wait to get home to read more. Would love to read more by this author.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I was able to get an early copy of this book. After loving her previous book, The Secret Book of Flora Lea, I was excited to give this one a try. I felt the premise promised a great mystery and some excitement. However, I got that in a different way I was expecting. I forgot how quiet yet emotional Patti Callahan Henry's books are, and this was no exception.
The scenery was described in vivid hues and it made me wish I could visit in person. There was so much wonder written into the book. The characters were emotional and the love story, while it wasn't the center of the story, was well written and believable.
If you want a quiet, immersive read with some history thrown in, please give this one a try.

This was such an incredible read! Wow. There was such a wonderful mix of romance, love for her daughter, and intensity. I do not know if I can accurately depict the emotion, love, and depth this story brought to a time in history I am not super familiar with. The emotions each of the characters felt would come off the page eloquently. This book will be sticking with me for a long time.

Patti Callahan writes in such a lyrical way that consistently leaves the reader wanting more. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the ARC inb exchange for an honest review. I will be recommending to so many people!