Patti Callahan Henry-Edgar B. Hollis Distinguished Author Series

The Newnan Carnegie Library Foundation is proud to welcome bestselling author, Patti Callahan Henry to the Carnegie. The Story She Left Behind is a sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter’s search for them both—inspired by a true literary mystery.

Books will be available for purchase by Bookmiser. The book talk will be followed by a book signing. Registration is required and will open on February 11th at 12:00 pm. Click the orange remind me button to be alerted when registration opens!

About the book: 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 language. 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.

About the author:

Patti Callahan Henry is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of several novels, including The Secret Books of Flora Lea, Surviving Savannah, and Becoming Mrs. Lewis. She is the recipient of the Christy Award, the Harper Lee Award for Alabama’s Distinguished Writer of the Year, and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year. She is the cohost and cocreator of the popular weekly online live web show and podcast Friends and Fiction. She lives in Alabama and South Carolina with her family. Find out more at PattiCallahanHenry.com

Host or Publisher The Carnegie Library