What We Leave Behind by Sue Halpern
From the author of Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, a tenderhearted work of contemporary women's fiction about two very different women grappling with the messy emotional legacies passed down by their parents—for fans of Dani Shapiro, Ann Napolitano, and Jodi Picoult. It’s the perennial question: are we a product of how we were raised, or is our identity hardwired by our genetic inheritance? When her adoptive mother dies in a freak accident, high school senior Melody Marcus doubles down on her refusal to learn anything about her birth parents. In this age of 23&me, though, that may not be possible, and the family secrets hidden in her DNA threaten to upend everything she knows about herself and her family. For Candace Milton, a successful woman in her forties, the emotional inheritance from her parents’ tortured marriage has led to a life of intentional unattachment. She is happy—enough. But a chance encounter with a friend of Melody’s father will challenge this assumption and force her to reimagine who she is and who she might become. Big-hearted, evocative, and achingly relatable, What We Leave Behind grapples with destiny, belonging, and love, and makes us question our own idea of family: the kind we’re born into and the kind we create.
"Sue Halpern’s latest novel takes on the eternal big questions (identity, fate vsfree will) as well as many of their modern permutations (the pandora’s box of genetic testing, the bankruptcy of meritocracy) in a novel that’s as propulsive as it is philosophical. Whether they’re related by blood, law, or the more contingent bond of friendship, Halpern’s beguiling, prickly characters achieve small but indisputable measures of grace as they reckon with their families of origin. With superb plotting and raucous wit added to the mix, What We Leave Behind is a deliciously absorbing read." — Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home “A novel that is populated with complex yet sympathetic characters who will touch readers’ hearts and open their minds.” — Library Journal “Halpern’s well-developed characters and complex family relationships will appeal to fans of contemporary relationship fiction writers like Jodi Picoult or Sue Miller.” — Booklist
Sue Halpern is the author of eight books of fiction and nonfiction, most recently Summer Hours at the Robbers Library. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the New York Review of Books, Rolling Stone, and Condé Nast Traveler. A former New Yorker staff writer, she lives in Vermont with her husband, the writer and environmental activist Bill McKibben, and is a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780063415386 |
| ISBN 10 | 0063415380 |
| Title | What We Leave Behind |
| Author | Sue Halpern |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | HarperCollins Publishers Inc |
| Year published | 2025-08-14 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |