Leaving Time

THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
'An addictive read packed with twists and turns' Closer

Ten years ago, Alice Metcalf vanished after a car accident, leaving her daughter Jenna to grow up grappling with the mystery of her disappearance.

Jenna has never believed that her mother could have simply left her. Determined to uncover the truth of what happened to Alice, she sets out to retrace the events of that fateful night.

But nothing can prepare her for the answers that await.

Number One bestselling author Jodi Picoult returns to themes about love and loss, and just how far we would go for the ones we love in this addictive bestseller.

An Amazon Best Book of the Month, October 2014: Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time weaves elephant behavior into a search for a missing mother. The connection isn't as odd as it might sound at first, and Picoult has written another page-turning novel, even as it focuses on motherhood, loss, and grief. Teenager Jenna Metcalf was just three years old when her mother disappeared from an elephant sanctuary. Ten years later, she takes up the search for her mother, Alice, by studying Alice’s decade-old journals on grieving elephants. The research itself is fascinating, the hints about Alice’s disappearance are compelling; but Jenna cannot find her mother on her own. By enlisting the help of a formerly famous—now infamous—psychic, as well as a down-and-out private detective whose career went south during the botched investigation of Alice's disappearance, Jenna forms a sort of new family to help her in her quest. As the facts begin to come together—described in alternating chapters by Jenna, the psychic, the private detective, and Alice’s journals—it all heads toward a thrilling conclusion. And, yes, there is a big twist at the end. – Chris Schluep