
The Story She Left Behind
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Julia Whelan
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Theo Solomon
About this listen
Inspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both.
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 langauge. 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.
Told in Patti Callahan Henry’s lyrical, enchanting prose, The Story She Left Behind is a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets.
©2025 Patti Callahan Henry (P)2025 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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- A Novel
- By: Patti Callahan Henry
- Narrated by: Shannon McManus
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Nine months after Catherine Leary’s father, a literature professor, passed away, she still has not fulfilled his final wish: that she scatter his ashes in the Seaboro River in South Carolina. The scene of a childhood tragedy that forced her family to move, Seaboro is the last place Catherine wants to see again. But on the evening of her thirtieth birthday, her father’s young colleague - whom she once dated – pays a visit.
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An Awesome Book
- By SG- BG on 06-07-12
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The Art of Keeping Secrets
- A Novel
- By: Patti Callahan Henry
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger, Shannon McManus
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Since a solo plane crash killed her husband two years ago, Annabelle Murphy has found solace in raising her two children. Just when she thinks the grief is behind her, she receives news that the wreckage of the plane has been discovered - and that her husband did not die alone. He was with another woman. Suddenly Annabelle is forced to question everything she once held true.
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Mystery without murder
- By Heather on 02-25-24
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All the Summers in Between
- By: Brooke Lea Foster
- Narrated by: Emily Ellet
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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When wealthy, impulsive summer girl Margot meets hardworking and steady local girl Thea in the summer of 1967, the unlikely pair become fast friends, working alongside one another in a record store and spending every spare moment together. But after an unspeakable incident on one devastating August night, they don’t see one another for ten years…until Margot suddenly reappears in Thea’s life, begging for help and harboring more than one dangerous secret. Thea can’t bring herself to refuse her beloved friend—but she also knows she can’t fully trust her either.
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It takes perseverance to finish.
- By KS Parker on 03-10-25
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Where the River Runs
- By: Patti Callahan Henry
- Narrated by: Janet Metzger
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Meridy Dresden was once a free-spirited, fun-loving girl. All that changed when the boy she loved was killed in a tragic fire. Since then, she alone has carried the burden of a terrible secret. Years later, married to a wonderful man and mother of a teenage son, she is shocked to learn that a childhood friend is being blamed for that long-ago fire. Fearful but determined, Meridy returns to the South Carolina Lowcountry and summons the courage to make a decision that may destroy her well-ordered life, her family’s reputation, her contented marriage, and everything she’s worked so hard to protect....
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Disappointed
- By Cheri H. Freeh on 06-10-18
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Surviving Savannah
- By: Patti Callahan
- Narrated by: Brittany Pressley, Catherine Taber, Patti Callahan
- Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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When Savannah history Professor Everly Winthrop is asked to guest-curate a new museum collection focusing on artifacts recovered from the steamship Pulaski, she's shocked. The ship sank after a boiler explosion in 1838, and the wreckage was just discovered, 180 years later. Everly can't resist the opportunity to try to solve some of the mysteries and myths surrounding the devastating night of its sinking. Everly's research leads her to the astounding history of a family of 11 who boarded the Pulaski together, and the extraordinary stories of two women from this family.
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Leave history as it is. Can't be changed.
- By Placeholder on 04-30-21
By: Patti Callahan
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Rooms for Vanishing
- A Novel
- By: Stuart Nadler
- Narrated by: Orlagh Cassidy, Bruce Mann, Kathleen Gati, and others
- Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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In Rooms for Vanishing, the violence of war has fractured the universe for the Altermans, a Jewish family from Vienna. Moving across decades, and across the world, the novel finds the Altermans alone in their separate futures, haunted by the loss of their loved ones, each certain that they are the sole survivor of their family.
By: Stuart Nadler
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The Paris Express
- By: Emma Donoghue
- Narrated by: Justin Avoth
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia.
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Outstanding narrator
- By Amazon Customer on 03-19-25
By: Emma Donoghue
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The Idea of Love
- A Novel
- By: Patti Callahan Henry
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Ella's life has been completely upended. She's young, beautiful, and deeply in love - until her husband dies in a tragic sailing accident while trying save her. Or so she'll have everyone believe. Screenwriter Hunter needs a hit, but crippling writers' block and a serious lack of motivation are getting him nowhere. He's on the look-out for a love story. It doesn't matter who it belongs to.
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Finding your truth in the lies you tell...
- By Jennifer on 07-13-15
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Broken Country
- By: Clare Leslie Hall
- Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.
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Excellent storytelling
- By A.E.C. on 03-15-25
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Home of the American Circus
- By: Allison Larkin
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 14 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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After an emergency leaves her short on rent, thirty-year-old Freya Arnalds bails on her lackluster life as bartender in Maine and returns to her suburban hometown of Somers, New York, to live in the house she inherited from her estranged parents. Despite attempts to lay low, Freya encounters childhood friends, familial enemies, and old flames—as well as her fifteen-year-old niece, Aubrey, who is secretly living in the derelict home. As they reconnect, Freya and Aubrey lean on each other, working to restore the house and come to terms with the devastating events that pulled them apart.
By: Allison Larkin
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The Perfect Love Song
- By: Patti Callahan Henry
- Narrated by: Liz Hill, Mitchell Stevenson
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Brothers Jimmy and Jack Sullivan live a nomadic life doing what they love: touring with their band, The Unknown Souls. But Jack’s recent engagement to Kara has everyone looking forward to a Christmas destination wedding in Ireland. Unlike his brother, Jimmy never expected to fall in love. But he feels a sense of peace and happiness whenever he’s around Kara’s best friend, Charlotte - which has him wondering what he’s missing. Over Thanksgiving, Jimmy and Charlotte write a song while sitting together on the back porch.
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Preachy story
- By Debora on 11-03-21
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The Library of Lost Dollhouses
- A Novel
- By: Elise Hooper
- Narrated by: Emily Rankin, Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Tildy Barrows, Head Curator of a beautiful archival library in San Francisco, is meticulously dedicated to the century’s worth of inventory housed in her beloved Beaux Art building. She loves the calm and order in the shelves of books and walls of art. But Tildy’s life takes an unexpected turn when she, first, learns the library is on the verge of bankruptcy and, second, discovers two exquisite never-before-seen dollhouses.
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Delightful and captivating novel
- By Kerozelvin on 04-06-25
By: Elise Hooper
What listeners say about The Story She Left Behind
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- kari kittleson
- 04-01-25
Great historical fiction
Based on many true events! Excellent narration. Loved this story;) Liked the duo for narration
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- Sarah
- 04-14-25
A warm hug
If you’re looking for a warm hug of a book, this is it. I love the dual narration, and Julia Whelan is the queen as usual!
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- TB
- 03-21-25
This is the best book I’ve listened to this year. Enjoy!
Loved everything about it. I was captivated within the first ten minutes. I especially loved Winnie.
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- Ohio Customer
- 03-31-25
Stunningly lyrical and beautiful
This is a book I will think about for a long time after finishing. The language was eloquent and lyrical, but the story itself was also captivating. This is a gorgeous story of love, forgiveness, and appreciation of art and nature. It examines what it means to be family and what we do for those we love. The landscape of both South Carolina and Cumbria are characters in the novel and the descriptions make me want to visit both. This was a unique story that wound history with charm and whimsy.
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- April
- 03-26-25
Beautiful Story! Perfect Narration
I finished this wonderful book in just four days—there's nothing better than a story you can't put down! As a huge fan of The Secret Book of Flora Lea, this is my second novel by Patti Callahan Henry, and I now realize I’ve been missing out on her previous works. I’ll definitely be looking into reading more!
This was a beautiful story about a young woman navigating life as a single mom with a career in a small town, all while grappling with the mysterious abandonment of her own mother. Her journey, alongside her daughter, unfolds into a tale of purpose, leading them across the globe through a world of mystery, heartache, forgiveness, healing, magic, self discovery and love.
Lastly, Julia Whelan as a narrator—she truly brings the story to life. I highly recommend this book; you won’t be disappointed! XOXO
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- Susan Bracho
- 04-11-25
Another beautiful narration by Julia Whelan
Beautiful prose and beautiful story. It was captivating. I didn’t want it to end. Julia brought these characters alive.
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- wojcik
- 04-04-25
The beautiful writing. The story is so unusual, the characters are so well described.
Great story. Definitely at the top of my list of best books. The history in England at the time is woven in to a most unique story of relationships scenery. There’s a bit thrown in about one of the best known children’s authors of the day. The mystery of some characters in the
book is most enjoyable.
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- P. Singer
- 03-30-25
Vivid imagery!
Patti Callahan Henry is a phenomenal author and is so expressive in her writing that you can see everything she talks about in your mind’s eye. Just when I think her books cannot get better she comes out with the next one! Thoroughly engaging and captivating novel! An absolute work of art!
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- Karen
- 03-30-25
Beautiful Cover
WOW! What a beautiful cover and storyline about Clara looking for her mother in London with her daughter Wynnie
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- Joy
- 03-20-25
Wonderful story!
She did it again! Filled with mystery and magic I believe this is my favorite PCH to date!
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