THE STORY SHE LEFT BEHIND ~ PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY ~ REVIEW

 

(This review is my own opinion and NOT affiliated with any other literary entity)

I believe there is nothing more intriguing than stories of people who vanish and are never heard from again. The story of Barbara Newhall Follet this one such story. As a child Follet proved herself a prodigy publishing a novel at 12 and creating her own secret language. As an adult she argued with her husband, left their apartment, and no trace of her remains. Patti Callahan Henry used Follet's story as the basis her novel The Story She Left Behind. 

Follet had no children but in Henry's rendering of her life Follet's fictional  counterpart Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham disappeared out of her daughter's life and into legend. Clara Harrington has a copy of the sequel to Bronwyn's first book and little else by way of clues.  A stranger, Charlie Jameson, contacts her claiming to have a letter for Clara, Bronwyn's satchel, and a dictionary of the language Bronwyn created. Clara and her daughter sail to England, hoping Bronwyn's secrets and motivation for leaving will come to light. Clara and Charlie find an enchanting village and a spiderweb of connections to each other. The novel urges readers to believe in magic and beauty and wonder and worlds where our dearest disappeared ones can find their way back to us. Barbara Newhall Follet's story ended in tragedy - real life doesn't always end happily but sometimes a happy ending is the only thing we need.