
The Light Through the Leaves
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $25.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Susannah Jones
-
By:
-
Glendy Vanderah
About this listen
Go on a powerful journey of forgiveness and healing with The Light Through the Leaves, a transcendent novel of love, loss, and self-discovery by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Where the Forest Meets the Stars.
One unbearable mistake at the edge of the forest.
In a moment of crisis, Ellis Abbey leaves her daughter, Viola, unattended - for just a few minutes. But when she returns, Viola is gone. A breaking point in an already fractured marriage, Viola’s abduction causes Ellis to disappear as well - into grief, guilt, and addiction. Convinced she can only do more harm to her family, Ellis leaves her husband and young sons, burying her desperate ache for her children deeper with every step into the mountain wildernesses she treks alone.
In a remote area of Washington, a young girl named Raven keeps secrets inside, too. She must never speak to outsiders about how her mother makes miracles spring from the earth, or about her father, whose mysterious presence sometimes frightens her. Raven spends her days learning how to use her rare gifts - and more important, how to hide them. With each lesson comes a warning of what dangers lie in the world beyond her isolated haven. But despite her mother’s cautions, Raven finds herself longing for something more.
As Ellis and Raven each confront their powerful longings, their journeys will converge in unexpected and hopeful ways, pulled together by the forces of nature, love, and family.
©2021 by Glendy Vanderah. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Critic reviews
“A memorable story of love’s healing power.” —Publishers Weekly
“A unique page-turner of remarkable richness, a tale of unthinkable trauma and the powerful, steady healing to be found in the natural world. I love the women in Vanderah’s novels, women who are allowed to be as flawed and raw and brave and fierce as men. And I loved the unfolding layers in this book, layers of love and disaster, secrets and longings, mothers and children, and always, nature as the steady backdrop to all life, offering the hope of renewal at all turns. Exquisite.” —Barbara O’Neal, USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids
“Glendy Vanderah’s love for nature shines through in this captivating story about love and loss and carrying on in the face of tragedy. Bursting with extraordinary moments of magic and beauty, it is an enchanting story that tugged at my heartstrings from the very first page and did not let go.” —Suzanne Redfearn, bestselling author of In an Instant

Editor's Pick
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Oceanography of the Moon
- A Novel
- By: Glendy Vanderah
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Zachary Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the untimely deaths of her aunt and mother, young Riley Mays moved from Chicago to her cousins’ Wisconsin farm. Here she found solace in caring for her extraordinary adoptive brother, exploring the surrounding wild nature, and gazing at the mystical moon - a private refuge in which she hides from her most painful memories. But ten years later, now twenty-one, Riley feels too confined by the protective walls she’s erected around herself. When a stranger enters her family’s remote world, Riley senses something he’s hiding, a desire to escape that she understands well.
-
-
So Woke Mentality
- By christina on 03-30-22
By: Glendy Vanderah
-
Where the Forest Meets the Stars
- By: Glendy Vanderah
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles.
-
-
Enjoyable. Which "story" version is true...
- By Christina on 03-16-19
By: Glendy Vanderah
-
In an Instant
- By: Suzanne Redfearn
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive. Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret. Unable to let go, Finn keeps vigil as they struggle to reclaim their shattered lives.
-
-
It feels like my reality
- By Merirae Tackett on 03-07-20
By: Suzanne Redfearn
-
Beyond the Moonlit Sea
- A Novel
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Graham Halstead, Reba Buhr
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Olivia Hamilton is married to the love of her life, Dean, a charismatic pilot who flies private jets for the rich and famous. But when he vanishes over the Bermuda Triangle, Olivia’s idyllic existence unravels. After years of waiting, Olivia must eventually let go of the fragile hope that her beloved husband might still be alive.
-
-
Fantastic book! Loved it!
- By Tasha Lynn on 07-05-22
By: Julianne MacLean
-
A Light in the Forest
- A Novel
- By: Melissa Payne
- Narrated by: Kay Eluvian
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vega Jones escapes an abusive relationship with nothing but her two-month-old baby and the van she grew up in. Her destination is a small Ohio town her late vagabond mother left years ago. It’s one full of nobodies, her mother warned. That makes it the ideal refuge for Vega to lie low, feel safe, and maybe learn more about a past her mother never spoke of.
-
-
This could have been a great book
- By TKJ on 01-10-23
By: Melissa Payne
-
A Curve in the Road
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abbie MacIntyre is living the dream in the picturesque Nova Scotia town she calls home. She is a successful surgeon, is married to a handsome cardiologist, and has a model teenage son who is only months away from going off to college. But then one fateful night, everything changes. When a drunk driver hits her car, Abbie is rushed to the hospital. She survives, but the accident forces unimaginable secrets out into the open and plagues Abbie with nightmares so vivid that she starts to question her grip on reality.
-
-
✫✫ 3.5 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 10-28-18
By: Julianne MacLean
-
The Oceanography of the Moon
- A Novel
- By: Glendy Vanderah
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Zachary Johnson
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the untimely deaths of her aunt and mother, young Riley Mays moved from Chicago to her cousins’ Wisconsin farm. Here she found solace in caring for her extraordinary adoptive brother, exploring the surrounding wild nature, and gazing at the mystical moon - a private refuge in which she hides from her most painful memories. But ten years later, now twenty-one, Riley feels too confined by the protective walls she’s erected around herself. When a stranger enters her family’s remote world, Riley senses something he’s hiding, a desire to escape that she understands well.
-
-
So Woke Mentality
- By christina on 03-30-22
By: Glendy Vanderah
-
Where the Forest Meets the Stars
- By: Glendy Vanderah
- Narrated by: Lauren Ezzo
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After the loss of her mother and her own battle with breast cancer, Joanna Teale returns to her graduate research on nesting birds in rural Illinois, determined to prove that her recent hardships have not broken her. She throws herself into her work from dusk to dawn, until her solitary routine is disrupted by the appearance of a mysterious child who shows up at her cabin barefoot and covered in bruises. The girl calls herself Ursa, and she claims to have been sent from the stars to witness five miracles.
-
-
Enjoyable. Which "story" version is true...
- By Christina on 03-16-19
By: Glendy Vanderah
-
In an Instant
- By: Suzanne Redfearn
- Narrated by: Jesse Vilinsky
- Length: 10 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life is over in an instant for sixteen-year-old Finn Miller when a devastating car accident tumbles her and ten others over the side of a mountain. Suspended between worlds, she watches helplessly as those she loves struggle to survive. Impossible choices are made, decisions that leave the survivors tormented with grief and regret. Unable to let go, Finn keeps vigil as they struggle to reclaim their shattered lives.
-
-
It feels like my reality
- By Merirae Tackett on 03-07-20
By: Suzanne Redfearn
-
Beyond the Moonlit Sea
- A Novel
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: Amanda Leigh Cobb, Graham Halstead, Reba Buhr
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Olivia Hamilton is married to the love of her life, Dean, a charismatic pilot who flies private jets for the rich and famous. But when he vanishes over the Bermuda Triangle, Olivia’s idyllic existence unravels. After years of waiting, Olivia must eventually let go of the fragile hope that her beloved husband might still be alive.
-
-
Fantastic book! Loved it!
- By Tasha Lynn on 07-05-22
By: Julianne MacLean
-
A Light in the Forest
- A Novel
- By: Melissa Payne
- Narrated by: Kay Eluvian
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Vega Jones escapes an abusive relationship with nothing but her two-month-old baby and the van she grew up in. Her destination is a small Ohio town her late vagabond mother left years ago. It’s one full of nobodies, her mother warned. That makes it the ideal refuge for Vega to lie low, feel safe, and maybe learn more about a past her mother never spoke of.
-
-
This could have been a great book
- By TKJ on 01-10-23
By: Melissa Payne
-
A Curve in the Road
- By: Julianne MacLean
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abbie MacIntyre is living the dream in the picturesque Nova Scotia town she calls home. She is a successful surgeon, is married to a handsome cardiologist, and has a model teenage son who is only months away from going off to college. But then one fateful night, everything changes. When a drunk driver hits her car, Abbie is rushed to the hospital. She survives, but the accident forces unimaginable secrets out into the open and plagues Abbie with nightmares so vivid that she starts to question her grip on reality.
-
-
✫✫ 3.5 Stars ✫✫
- By ❤️Cyndi Marie❤️🎧Audiobook Addicts🎧 on 10-28-18
By: Julianne MacLean
-
The Last of the Moon Girls
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lizzy Moon never wanted Moon Girl Farm. Eight years ago, she left the land that nine generations of gifted healers had tended, determined to distance herself from the whispers about her family’s strange legacy. But when her beloved grandmother Althea dies, Lizzy must return and face the tragedy still hanging over the farm’s withered lavender fields: the unsolved murders of two young girls, and the cruel accusations that followed Althea to her grave.
-
-
outstanding book
- By Alyssa Amori on 08-03-20
By: Barbara Davis
-
Write My Name Across the Sky
- A Novel
- By: Barbara O'Neal
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean, Nicol Zanzarella, Emily Ellet
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Life’s beautiful for seventysomething influencer Gloria Rose, in her Upper West Side loft with rooftop garden and scores of Instagram followers - until she gets word that her old flame has been arrested for art theft and forgery, and, knowing her own involvement in his misdeeds decades earlier, decides to flee. But that plan is complicated when the nieces she raised are thrown into crises of their own.
-
-
Totally a waste of time
- By momaW on 06-27-22
By: Barbara O'Neal
-
When Never Comes
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As a teenage runaway and child of an addict, Christy-Lynn learned the hard way that no address was permanent, and no promise sacred. For a while, she found a safe haven in her marriage to bestselling crime novelist Stephen Ludlow - until his car skidded into Echo Bay. But Stephen’s wasn’t the only body pulled from the icy waters that night. When details about a mysterious violet-eyed blonde become public, a media circus ensues, and Christy-Lynn runs again.
-
-
A great story about healing and new starts in life
- By Virginia Kilmer on 08-18-18
By: Barbara Davis
-
The Starfish Sisters
- A Novel
- By: Barbara O'Neal
- Narrated by: Laura Jennings, Jenn Lee, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Phoebe and Suze used to be closer than sisters. Growing up in a quiet and wildly beautiful coastal town in Oregon, they shared everything. Until the secrets they couldn’t share threatened their bond and complicated their lives. Now, decades later, Suze, a famous actress desperate for safe haven following a brutal attack, is back in town. Phoebe, a successful illustrator and fabric designer, has discovered keeping a secret means she can’t let anyone get close, aside from her beloved granddaughter, Jasmine.
-
-
Became political
- By Robin on 10-13-23
By: Barbara O'Neal
-
Hadley and Grace
- A Novel
- By: Suzanne Redfearn
- Narrated by: Christina Traister, Sarah Naughton, Pete Simonelli
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Needing to escape her abusive marriage, Hadley flees with her two kids, knowing it might be her only chance. A woman who can’t even kill a spider, Hadley soon finds herself pushed to the limits as she fights to protect her family. Grace, new mother of baby Miles, desperately wants to put her rough past behind her for good, but she finds it impossible when her path crosses with Hadley’s, and her quest for a new start quickly spirals out of control and turns into a terrifying flight for survival.
-
-
Doesn’t hold up to the reviews
- By Maggie May on 02-19-21
By: Suzanne Redfearn
-
Find Me
- Inland Empire, Book 1
- By: Anne Frasier
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Convicted serial killer Benjamin Fisher has finally offered to lead San Bernardino detective Daniel Ellis to the isolated graves of his victims. One catch: he'll only do it if FBI profiler Reni Fisher, his estranged daughter, accompanies them. As hard as it is to exhume her traumatic childhood, Reni can’t say no. She still feels complicit in her father’s crimes.
-
-
Nature vs nurture...
- By shelley on 07-03-20
By: Anne Frasier
-
The Keeper of Happy Endings
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Robin Siegerman, Hope Newhouse
- Length: 15 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Soline Roussel is well schooled in the business of happy endings. For generations her family has kept an exclusive bridal salon in Paris, where magic is worked with needle and thread. It’s said that the bride who wears a Roussel gown is guaranteed a lifetime of joy. But devastating losses during World War II leave Soline’s world and heart in ruins and her faith in love shaken. She boxes up her memories, stowing them away, along with her broken dreams, determined to forget.
-
-
French accent
- By Lilya on 10-22-21
By: Barbara Davis
-
Where Butterflies Wander
- A Novel
- By: Suzanne Redfearn
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd, Vivienne Leheny, Jordan Cobb, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After a tragic accident claims the life of one of her children, Marie Egide is desperate to carve out a fresh start for her family. With her husband and their three surviving children, Marie travels to New Hampshire, where she plans to sell a family estate and then, just maybe, they’ll be able to heal from their grief. Marie’s plans are thwarted when she realizes a war veteran known by locals as “the river witch” is living in a cabin on the property, which she claims was a gift from Marie’s grandfather. If Davina refuses to move on, Marie won’t be able to either.
-
-
The dichotomy between the characters
- By Linda on 03-24-24
By: Suzanne Redfearn
-
The Echo of Old Books
- A Novel
- By: Barbara Davis
- Narrated by: Vanessa Johansson, Steve West, Sarah Zimmerman
- Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rare-book dealer Ashlyn Greer’s affinity for books extends beyond the intoxicating scent of old paper, ink, and leather. She can feel the echoes of the books’ previous owners—an emotional fingerprint only she can read. When Ashlyn discovers a pair of beautifully bound volumes that appear to have never been published, her gift quickly becomes an obsession. Not only is each inscribed with a startling incrimination, but the authors, Hemi and Belle, tell conflicting sides of a tragic romance.
-
-
Couldn’t finish it
- By Lady Chaps on 03-31-23
By: Barbara Davis
-
Across the Winding River
- By: Aimie K. Runyan
- Narrated by: Kathleen Gati, Lisa Flanagan, Michael Crouch
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beth Cohen wants to make the most of the months she has left with her elderly father, Max. His only request of his daughter is to go through the long-forgotten box of memorabilia from his days as a medic on the western front. Then, among his wartime souvenirs, Beth finds a photograph of her father with an adoring and beautiful stranger - a photograph worth a thousand questions.
-
-
Great story
- By evielynn on 10-04-20
By: Aimie K. Runyan
-
The Storyteller of Casablanca
- By: Fiona Valpy
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
- Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Morocco, 1941. With France having fallen to Nazi occupation, twelve-year-old Josie has fled with her family to Casablanca, where they await safe passage to America. Life here is as intense as the sun, every sight, smell and sound overwhelming to the senses in a city filled with extraordinary characters. It’s a world away from the trouble back home—and Josie loves it. Seventy years later, another new arrival in the intoxicating port city, Zoe, is struggling—with her marriage, her baby daughter and her new life as an expat in an unfamiliar place.
-
-
Sweet and profound
- By EYM on 11-15-21
By: Fiona Valpy
-
This Place of Wonder
- A Novel
- By: Barbara O'Neal
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo, Amy Landon, Alaska Jackson
- Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When famed chef Augustus Beauvais dies, he leaves behind a celebrated reputation—and four women grappling with loss, anger, pain, and the question of how the world will turn without him...
-
-
Wish I would have waited to purchase
- By Admirer of great books; critic of bad books. on 07-25-22
By: Barbara O'Neal
A Life Changing Experience For Me
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I expected the usual man cheats and woman falls apart story. Although there is a-lot of crying in the beginning it helps sets the stage and helps you understand “Ellis’ star of mind.
The family disfunction is palpable and I was thrilled that wasn’t the case.
It took a left hand turn early on and kept going. Although some elements were predictable- overall I really enjoyed it, was riveted by many of the characters and despite everything I liked the ending.
It wasn’t what I expected
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heartfelt
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
And they lived happily ever after…
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved this book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved this book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
almost wonderful
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
excellent book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Strong characters living worse parents nightmare...
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Wow
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.