Wow! While I was reading this book, I was trying to figure out what exactly happened ten years ago. When I got to the end, I was surprised by what happened, yet it still made sense with the story. Definitely not what I was expecting!
In “leaving time” we follow the story of Jenna. She is a thirteen year old girl living with her grandmother. She has a very good memory and her earliest memory is from when she is barely a year old. Jenna believes one reason that she has this memory is because it involves her mother, Alice. Her mother is not longer around- she disappeared when Jenna was three after an incident at the elephant sanctuary that she worked at. One worker was killed, trampled by an elephant, and after being taken to the hospital, Alice disappeared before anyone could question her about what had happened.
Jenna decides that she is going to find her mother, and sets decides to use a psychic to help her. She chooses Serenity Jones to help her. After looking into the psychic’s past, Jenna sees that Serenity was very successful at one point, being asked to help in different investigation, and helping solve the case. It all changed when she made a wrong prediction about a missing boy, and after that, she struggled to make correct predictions. In Jenna’a quest to find her mother, she also enlists the former detective on the case, Virgil Stanhope. Virgil had since changed his name and has become a private investigator. Alice’s case was a case that forever haunted him and led him to change in profession, to being a private investigator.
I always enjoy books by Jodi Picoult. I enjoy the way she writes and how she gets different characters perspectives into her books. We see the perspectives of Jenna, Serenity, Virgil, and Alice. Alice’s story takes place in the past. We see her research in elephants and how she met her husband. We see Jenna, Serenity, and Virgil’s stories in the present as they look for Alice. We also see some history of these characters that led them to where they are today. Will they find Alice? Is she still alive or did she pass away? And what happened the night that Alice disappeared from Jenna’s life?