3.5
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria for the gifted e-arc.

What was done well:
1. Great sense of place. The London fog oozed off the page the way it was written. The English countryside was a picture on the page!
2. Loved the cameo of a well known person (won't spoil them here). Made me smile to know whose house was just up the hill.

What I didn't love:
1. The romance felt rushed and convenient and not flushed out. All of the sudden, it worked!
2. There were some details that didn't add up for me. Like the girl running off past the river (written in a way that won't spoil the story for those that haven't it, yet will hopefully tell the reader where the issue lays.
3. The whole lost mother thing. This plot line-I just couldn't buy.

Overall the book did have a magical feel to it and I think readers will enjoy it.

For over 25 years, Clara Harrington has been haunted by her mother's disappearance. Bronwyn was a troubled genius who created her own language and wrote a book as a child that became wildly famous. When Bronwyn disappeared without leaving any way to interpret her sequel, the world is left wondering and Clara and her father are left heartbroken. However, when Clara hears that a man in England has found a dictionary of her mother's words and a letter written to her by her mother, Clara and her daughter Wynnie leave home to find the truth.

Clara and Wynnie meet Jamie, who found her mother's papers in his deceased father's library, and when the London fog drives Clara and asthmatic Wynnie out of London to Jamie's family home. Due to a horrible accident, Clara loses her mother's dictionary but in Cumbria County, England, she finds signs of her mother everywhere. The more she searches the more she realizes that she will never stop looking for her mother.

This book is haunting and moving with deep emotions and an incredible understanding of the connection between the personal and imaginative and what is "real." Jamie and Wynnie are both incredibly loveable, and both Clara and Bronywn are complex, fascinating characters. The location in England is visceral and beautiful, and it's easy to get lost in the mystery of the story.

I really thought this book was one of the most detailed and descriptive books I’ve read in a while! I loved the way the author made us really “see” everything from the scenery in the different places to the all the characters.

I felt like there was a part of the book missing near the end. Without giving too much away, there was a great resolution and a time jump that left me wondering what happened between the two. Overall, highly recommend!

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Pub date 3/18/25)

I couldn’t put this cozy little mystery down. Set in the mid 50’s spanning the Atlantic, Clara gets a call she has waited her whole life for. A clue to her mother’s disappearance when she was just 8 years old. Now a mother herself to an 8 year old, she sets out on a journey across the sea.

Thank you Net Galley and Atria books for this advanced copy. @pattichenry

#womenempowerment #womensfiction #NetGalley #TheStorySheLeftBehind #atriabooks #historicalfiction #fiction #romancefiction

Patti Callahan Henry has become a must-read author for me. The Story She Left Behind follows Clara as she tries to uncover what happened to her mother who vanished 25 years ago. I’d highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys a family mystery!

Patti Callahan Henry is one of my favorite authors as I love her writing style, and while I did enjoy this book, it was not one of my favorite's of hers. I like the story and the characters, and there were numerous times I could not put the book down until I got to the next part. Two things that I didn't love were the invented language and the truth about Clara's mother (no spoilers!). I would still recommend this book as the things I disliked are very much personal preference.

One thing that I love about Patti Callahan Henry's writing style is that I can easily imagine the locations as she is describing them, and this book is no different as she describes the Lowcountry of South Carolina (Bluffton/May River) and the Lake District in England.

Thank you Atria Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Clara Harrington is a young child when her mother disappears. Patti Callahan Henry describes the emotions and thoughts of Clara as a child and now as an adult with her own child very vividly. The reader comes to know the characters intimately. While the plot moves a little slow for me during the first part of the book, it picks up as the mystery takes hold. Clara's mother is somewhat of a celebrity having created a new language and written a book by age of 12. The mother has left behind a second book in this secret language. Clara spends most of her life searching for her mother and the dictionary of this secret language so she may discover what was written and perhaps understand why her mother has left Clara and her father behind.
It's a touching story full of love, family and the bonds one has. I highly recommend this book and it is a good one for book club discussions. Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book.

What a beautiful story of loss, love, family and forgiveness. Patti Callahan Henry artfully weaves historical events into the fictional lives of two families, intertwined in unknowing ways.The characters are complex and burdened yet so relatable. The story drew me in from the first pages and held me tight until the end. Thank you Atria books and Netgalley for this ARC.

“I’d like to say that so many people believe the novel is about the invisible world and fairies and fantasy, and in many ways it is. But also, it’s about finding home. It’s about knowing where you belong and then doing something about that truth. It’s about the awful and sometimes wonderful journey that can take you in the wrong directions, but then being willing to begin again and find your way.”

Let me start out by saying this book was amazing. It is full of beautiful words and this story has so many heartbreaking moments that made me cry. Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham is a genius who published a book at age 12. who ends up disappearing out of her husband and daughter's life in 1927. In 1952, Clara, Bronwyn's daughter, has a man in London contact her regarding a letter and the dictionary to Bronwyn's lost language. This book takes you on a ride from the beginning as we learn about Clara's struggles in life since her mother left. Clara is a mother now, too, and she takes Wynnie with her to London to she if she can uncover the truth. The beauty is everywhere in this book, even in the uglier moments. This may be Patti Callahan Henry's best book yet. Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for a chance to read this early in exchange for an honest review.

I was captivated by the beautiful cover and immediately pulled into a spectacular story full of mystery, searching, secrets, and acceptance. Henry examines what we leave behind and what we take with us and the ripple effects of this in the present and future. Her magnificent story about a secret language, forgiveness and found family will stay with me for quite some time. As I finished the last page, I realized (1) that not everything lost needs to be found and not everything found was at one time lost and (2) that not every question needs or has an answer.

My inner intellect enjoyed an opportunity to get lost down a rabbit hole of all things pertaining to The Great Smog and Barbara Newhall Follett.

You won’t be disappointed with any Patti Callahan Henry book you pick up - this literary mystery is a masterpiece!

I was gifted this copy by Atria Books and was under no obligaiton to provide a review.

A story about love, understanding and forgiveness that transcends time.

Historical fiction at its finest. I had never heard of Barbara Newhall Follet so this story intrigued me from the start. I have never read a book by Patti Callahan Henry but this will not be my last.

The story of an author who earned fame a young age and all of the turmoil she dealt with that lead to her disappearance was so heart wrenching. Clara and her young daughter and their quest for understanding was woven with so much hope and love as well as hurt. I absolutely fell in love with the descriptions, the love and the creativeness of this story. I can't wait to read more of Mrs. Henry's novels.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Patti Callahan Henry always knows how to write a beautiful historical romance and The Story She Left Behind was absolutely wonderful.

3.5 ⭐️

I really wanted to love this book, but it was just okay for me. I usually enjoy historical fiction, but this one didn’t quite hit the mark.

The author did an amazing job with the imagery—her descriptions of the landscapes and settings were beautiful and vivid. But the story itself felt slow at times, and certain parts dragged on longer than they needed to.

When the main character finally found the answers she’d been searching for, it felt anticlimactic. I also struggled to connect with the characters—they just didn’t draw me in or make me care about what happened to them.

Overall, while the book had some beautiful moments, it didn’t fully deliver. Fans of rich, descriptive writing might enjoy it, but it wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for.

Another fantastic story by author, Patti Callahan Henry. The author was inspired from the actual story of Barbara Newhalll Follet during the early 1900's. This story takes place in South Carolina where Bronwyn Fordham disappeared one night off the coast, leaving behind her husband and 8 year old daughter, Clara.

Bronwyn was a child prodigy, writing a bestseller fantasy novel at the age of 12. The world looked forward to a sequel but it never happened. Clara and her father are heartbroken over the loss of Bronwyn who never returns. Fast forward to the 1950's and Clara is now married with her own daughter, Wynnie. Her husband is a gambler and eventually leaves them so Clara and Wynnie move in with Clara's dad. Clara is an art teacher as well as an acclaimed illustrator for children's books.

Twenty-five years after Clara's mom disappears, she receives a call from a man, Charlie Jameson, in England and her life changes. Charlie is settling the estate of his father, who recently passed away. Charlie tells Clara that he has a satchel and a letter explaining that he is to deliver the contents of the satchel and an unopened letter to Clara Harrington. Clara sets out across the ocean with her 8 year old daughter, Wynnie. Clara is hoping that the contents will give her information that her mother may still be alive. Charlie has no idea how his late father ended up with this satchel that eventually connects him to Clara. Is her mother still alive? Does she uncover the truth as to why her mother abandoned them? Does the satchel contain the missing manuscript for the sequel to Bronwyn's novel? Does Charlie's mother know about Bronwyn?

Henry always writes so beautifully with storytelling that draws in your imagination. The story is filled with mystery, love, forgiveness, hope, and secrets. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry is a wonderfully crafted novel about the disappearance of an author in 1927 and the story that she left behind for her daughter, Clara. The main story happens in 1952, when Charlie in London discovers a dictionary of a made up language in his father’s library. He contacts Clara about her mother’s satchel and she travels to London with her young daughter, Wynnie. The Great Smog overtakes London, Clara and Wynnie end up in the Lake District at Charlie’s family country cottage. This is where the plot thickens and the secrets everyone has been keeping slowly become unraveled.

I would recommend this book for historical fiction readers and anyone who enjoys a story that keeps you compelled from start to finish. I appreciate all of the details in the story from Wynnie reading The Borrowers (one of my favorites as a child), T.S. Eliot making an appearance as a treasured friend, and Beatrix Potter’s home. This book makes you feel like you have stepped into the past, the prose is magical, and the story is cleverly revealed.

Thank you Atria Books and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington’s magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more insatiable: her beautiful mother.

By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother’s lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother’s vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London’s most deadly natural disasters—the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson’s family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

This work is brilliant, beautiful, and poignant. Patti Callahan Henry crafts a story of grief and fear, hope, love and redemption. One of my favorites of the year. This one will stick with me for a long time. 5⭐

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan-Henry has a lot of elements that appealed to me: a lost mother, a story within a story, and a historical event I haven’t read much about, The Great Smog in post-WWII London. I was immediately pulled in to the story of Clara, her sweet and precocious daughter Wynnie, and their quest to find the truth about what happened to their mother and grandmother, Bronwyn. I enjoyed reading about their journey to London to meet Charlie, whose late father somehow ended up with papers that belonged to Bronwyn, as well as how they unexpectedly found themselves caught up in the deadly Great Smog and their subsequent escape to the countryside.

As a lover of historical fiction, I always appreciate the elements that are based on historical fact. In this case, the character of Bronwyn is based on a real-life author, Barbara Newhall Follet, who also published a novel at a young age and mysteriously disappeared in her 20s. I hadn’t heard of her before, but after reading this book I want to know more, and I can understand why this mystery sparked a story idea for Callahan-Henry. I thought she created a wonderful, intriguing character in Bronwyn, and I also wish that the fictional tale about Emjie was one that I could actually read!

There was also the bonus of an easter egg from Callahan-Henry’s last book, The Secret Book of Flora Lea, that made me smile. While there’s absolutely no requirement to read that one first, you should still read it if you haven’t!

The writing was beautiful, the characters had depth, and the mystery of what happened to Bronwyn wasn’t easy to predict. I love the way it all came together in the end. This is an engaging, enchanting book that I won’t hesitate to recommend!

Many thanks to Atria Books and Netgalley for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a delightful and tender tale! A sweeping novel about family and the unseen ties that bind.

In 1927, a renowned children's author disappears without a trace, leaving fans confused and and her family devastated. It isn't until 25 years later, in 1952, that her now grown daughter, Clara, gets a mysterious phone call from someone claiming to have found some of her mother's papers. His name is Charlie Jameson, and he lives in England. His recently deceased father had the papers and a letter for Clara in a bag in his library. Clara can't resist the chance to learn more about what might have happened to her mother and to translate the secret language the papers claim to contain. She and her daughter travel to England and land in London at the beginning of the great smog of 1952. Of course, this is just the beginning of the story, and by the end, Clara, hopes to have more answers than questions about that long ago disappearance and the story her mother left behind.

I'll be honest. I found the beginning of this story a bit slow and almost overly dramatic. The use of the great smog as a way to move events of the book forwards feels sort of over played, but as the story continued, I found myself enjoying it more and more. Wynnie, the young girl in this book, is especially endearing, and I loved the role that she played in the narrative. There is just enough mystery mixed in with the slow character driven plot that it somehow works. Add in a smattering of romance, and you end up with a solid read despite the rocky start.

A lyrical and heart wrenching story of a writer whose greatest success came in childhood and the world has pursued her relentlessly ever since. When as an adult, she disappears into the night, leaving her daughter and husband, the world is once again transfixed. But that hole she leaves behind becomes a deeper well for her daughter Clara. Many years later, after a failed marriage, Clara receives a mysterious summons to London--her mother's lost papers were found in the safe of a well known literary collector. Seeking to finally have some answers, Clara travels to England, with her own daughter, and hopes to finally close the door on the tattered remnants of what her mother might have left behind. This is a story of dreams and hopes, and lost lives, and leaves both a sense of hope for the future, and the realization that not every question has an answer. I have enjoyed Patti Callahan Henry's books for years and it was a pleasure to get an advanced look at this gentle and kindly story.