As She Left It: A Novel
After 13 years away, Opal Jones returns to her alcoholic mother’s house on Mote Street in Leeds, England, which she left at the age of 12, and is welcomed by neighbors even after missing her mum’s funeral. Then, sensing an air of secrecy, she learns of the tragic disappearance 10 years earlier of the 5-year-old grandson of a neighbor couple, and she begins to wonder why another neighbor provided the financial means for Opal’s return. Soon the resourceful Opal undertakes three missions: finding the missing child; locating the family of her beloved Fishbo, the trumpet player of the Mote Street Boys combo, who taught her to play the instrument; and solving the puzzle of papers found in the posts of the secondhand bed she just bought. Undeterred even by a threatening note and a break-in, Opal finds that little is what it seems as her own painful and hidden memories come to light. With an appealingly quirky cast of characters and a nicely paced narrative, this is a captivating stand-alone from the author of the Dandy Gilver mystery series. --Michele Leber