pithypants reviewed What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Review of 'What She Left Behind' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
This book bounces between past and present. The present storyline features a ward of the state who is living with foster parents because her mom is in a mental institution for killing the girl's father. In tackling a special project with her foster parents, she stumbles upon the records of a woman many generations back who had also been locked up for mental illness. This provides the mechanism for each chapter to switch between past and present as the girl learns more about her own life through researching the history of an asylum.
Overall this was an interesting and well written story. The one thing that took away from it was the girl's relationship with her schoolmates, and her own blindness about her mom's motivation. Most readers will see the conclusion coming from a mile away.