What We Leave Behind
A Novel
Published on 14. August 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
352 pages
978-0-06-341538-6 (ISBN)
Description
From the author of Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, a tenderhearted story of 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 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 collateral damage 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.
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 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 collateral damage 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.
Reviews / Votes
"Sue Halpern's latest novel takes on the eternal big questions (identity, fate vs. free 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
"This engrossing novel asks the age-old question of nature versus nurture. Is it how we're raised or is identity hardwired? Get ready for an exploration of love, family, loss and relationships." - Lee Woodruff
"Halpern's characters jump off the page as living, breathing individuals that we want to root for. While Melody and Candace are nothing alike in background and age, they have much in common with how they view their past, present, and future. Readers will find many ways to connect with these two women as well as the other people in their lives." - Woman Around Town
"The stories of the two women are woven together well, in a thoughtful and emotionally deep book." - Motherhood Moment
"What We Leave Behind is an intimate and thought-provoking novel that explores the complicated ties of family, identity, and emotional inheritance. Through the parallel journeys of Melody and Candace, Sue Halpern paints a layered portrait of what it means to search for truth when the past refuses to stay buried. The writing is both tender and sharp, with characters that feel honest and deeply human. This story invites readers to sit with the messiness of love, loss, and self-discovery and to consider the invisible threads that bind us." - Book Referees
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers Inc
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
266 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-06-341538-6 (9780063415386)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
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 Conde 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.