Why She Left by Leah Mercer
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery & Thriller
Swathi’s Rating: 4/5
Published: Dec 2021, Bookouture
Hello peeps!!!
I hope you’re having a wonderful day with your family and friends. Mine’s been good so far. Tired and noisy, yes but I hope it gets better. How’s yours coming along?
Just finished reading #whysheleft by @leahmercerauthor last night and I’m famished and sleepless from staying awake through the night to read it!
Leah Mercer is a fantastic storyteller and I cannot believe I haven’t read her works yet. Why She Left is fast-paced with quick chapters narrated by Ruth and Isobel, two mothers from two generations whose POVs are so different and very interesting to read.
Ruth, the dutiful, doting headmistress of the prestigious school from her family would do anything to keep up her family legacy and maintain the reputation of the school she’d given her life to.
Meanwhile, Isobel had run away from it all. Once, the school was her dream and she doted on her mother but she had run because of something that happened to her at the very same place and she cannot look back. Now, she’s back at her mother’s place with her own son and she’s left with no choice but to stay as Issac starts going to the same school!
There are several layers to this story and I completely enjoyed the alternative chapters of the mother and daughter. Sometimes, it made me cringe at the decisions Ruth takes, just for her school but at last, I can’t help but feel sad for her.
Very addictive and compelling, I swallowed the book whole over a night. Thank you @bookouture for allowing me to read this. All options mine.
#whysheleft comes out in Dec so go ahead and pre-order it if you like the plot.
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About the Book:
When I open the door and see her, my mind starts churning. Why are they here? What do they want? And why did my daughter leave in the first place? Am I finally, after all of these years, going to find out? I take a deep breath and usher them in…
Ruth has spent every day of the last fifteen years wondering why her daughter Isobel left. Walking around the school to which she has given her life, every child she sees reminds her of her family’s bright future which vanished in an instant.
So when Ruth opens the door to find Isobel and a teenage grandson she never knew existed, she feels a rush of relief. Despite the years of hurt she never stopped loving Isobel and wants to help rebuild her life. Enrolling her grandson at the school, Ruth wants to make sure they stay for good.
Isobel has spent her life running from a painful secret. A secret which could have destroyed her family. Now, as she flees a bad relationship, she knows that her childhood home is the only place where she can be safe.
But as Isobel looks at her son in his crisp new uniform, she is taken straight back to the reason she ran all those years ago. Soon it becomes clear that she is not the only one tormented by the past. Someone is prepared to destroy everything Ruth and Isobel hold dear. Can Isobel confront her darkest secret before it is too late?
From the bestselling author of Who We Were Before comes a powerful and emotional page-turner about devastating family secrets. Perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty, Emily Bleeker and Imogen Clark.
