Leaving Time-by Jodi Picoult

Ok so it has been well established that I love Jodi Picoult and am pretty much determined to read everything by her. This fact is so well known that anytime there is anything related to Jodi Picoult people at work come to ask me if I know about it. With this in mind one of the managers at work, and a thank you to Peter for his kindness, saw an ARC for Ms. Picoult's newest novel entitled 'Leaving Time' and hid it away for me. It made my day when I saw it and I started reading it right away.

It is the story of young Jenna Metcalf and her decade long search for the truth about what happened to her mother. Her mom, Alice Metcalf studied grief among elephants. After a tragic accident at the elephant sanctuary that she ran with her husband, Alice disappeared leaving behind a three-year-old daughter and what appears to be a body trampled by an elephant. Ten years later Jenna pores over her mother's old journals trying to find a hidden clue meant just for her to tell her she hadn't been abandoned. When she turns 13 Jenna decides that it's time to take matters into her own hands and starts her own search for her mother. Enlisting the help of two rather unusual allies, a disgraced psychic who was once the biggest name in helping to find missing persons and a drunken private detective that was once a detective assigned to her mother's case, the three begin a journey that takes them to unexpected places.

Going between journal entries from Alice's past and the search that Jenna and her oddball companions are putting on Jodi Picoult has come away with another winner. Blended into the story are some fascinating facts about elephant tribes and the way they grieve and raise their young. The beauty of the moments that Alice witnesses is stunning and heartbreaking in equal measure. As Jenna and her unlikely team try to retrace her mother's steps and find the truth of what happened at the sanctuary that last night we watch as Alice struggles through love, grief, and secrets that no one should ever have to keep.

As always Jodi Picoult weaves together a story both simple and beautiful and heart racingly dark. A story that kept me sucked in until the very end. I really enjoyed the way it tied itself up in knots and then at the end it found a clever way of untangling itself. It is a story that is worth reading because it takes a usual story and tells it in an unusual way. I was surprised by it which is always something that I look for in a good book and I think that it is one that will surprise you as well.

Ms. Picoult knows how to write and so that was never in question when I first opened the book. What really struck me this time around was the depth of what she wrote. All of her novels are impeccably written but with this I felt that there was a special level of care that went into each word. Maybe it was because her subject matter was so deep in and of itself but there seemed to be more weight behind each word, each sentence. And I loved it, I really found myself feeling the story which was just great.

All in all 'Leaving Time' was a good read and one that I recommend for an October read. It comes out October 14th and I think that it's going to be not only worth the wait but worth buying the hardcover. It's a beautiful story and as always it's well written and full of characters that I think you will find utterly fascinating. I really enjoyed reading the book and I hope that you read it and enjoy it as well. It is one of those perfect beginning of fall books that you can easily curl up with and enjoy with a good cup of your favorite tea. Be warned though you may end up unable to put the book down so make sure you get real comfortable!