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Reviewed by Bernadette Longu for Readers' Favorite
What We Leave Behind by Christine Gallagher Kearney takes place in the years 1947 to 1960. The author has taken the life of a young girl, Ursula, who grew up in Berlin during World War Two, and relates how the devastation and the acts of the conquering troops affected her thinking. When the chance came for her to leave Germany, she grabbed it with both hands and went to America, leaving behind her mother, father, and aunt. But life is not always what it seems to be and does not always turn out the way we want.
In What We Leave Behind, each character is important to the unfolding of the life Ursula finds in America. The author guides her characters with such skill, showing their joy, indecision, laughter, and sadness through every twist and turn that the story takes. The reader then realizes that the things we leave behind can sometimes be a curse or a joy, depending on how they guide and help us as the main character struggles to forge a new life for herself with her GI husband in Minnesota. The reader will find that they cannot put the book down until the last page is turned. The final twist in the tale is so unexpected that it leaves the reader stunned. This is a book that is well worth a read and is quite fast-moving. Thank you, Christine, for a lovely read.
