First published 1997
A woman walks away from her husband and two children, leaving behind only questions and pain. Her husband struggles to understand how their marriage collapsed so completely. He replays their final conversations, searching for signs he missed. The children grapple with abandonment in different ways. One child retreats inward, building walls against further hurt. The other acts out, testing whether anyone else will leave too. The father tries to hold the family together while battling his own anger and grief. He must learn to parent alone while processing his wife's betrayal. The absent mother's presence lingers in every room, every routine, every holiday. Her family members each carry pieces of her rejection, trying to make sense of why she chose to disappear. They discover that healing requires confronting not just her absence, but the person she was when she lived among them.
Genres: literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: family-drama, grief, marriage-in-crisis
276 pages · Paperback · Mariner Books