THE STORY SHE LEFT BEHIND

A woman travels from South Carolina to London to try to translate a book written by her long-lost mother.

In 1952, Clara Harrington, a divorcée with a young daughter, is an elementary school art teacher and children’s book illustrator who’s recently won the Caldecott Medal; despite her good life, she’s haunted by the 1927 disappearance of her mother, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham. Bronwyn, who had written a bestselling book in her own unique language as a child, vanished on the night the family house caught fire, killing a fireman and injuring the 8-year-old Clara. Now Clara receives a call from a man named Charlie Jameson, who, while cleaning out his late father’s library in London, found a set of papers marked “For Clara Harrington only,” with her address and phone number attached, and a note saying they must be delivered in person. They include a dictionary that Clara immediately realizes could be used to translate her mother’s sequel, written in the odd language she had made up. Charlie invites Clara to his family home in London, but upon arriving with her asthmatic daughter, Wynnie, the Great Smog of 1952 forces the trio to the Lake District. There, Clara uncovers connections she didn’t expect: Eliza Walker, the author for whom she has illustrated numerous books without ever meeting, lives in the area and turns out to have adapted her mother’s first book into a play. Clara becomes convinced that the Lake District holds more answers to the mystery of her mother’s disappearance. Though the setup is intriguing, the novel is overly long and meandering and fails to provide satisfying answers to the mysteries at its heart.

This novel will leave readers wishing for more.