“A great pick for your book club this summer.” —Working MotherCrushed by guilt over the car accident that killed her father and sister, and torn apart by her mother’s resentment, Darcy Goodridge fled her family estate eight years ago and hasn’t looked back. Now an unexpected phone call threatens to upend what little serenity she’s found. Her nephew, Emerson, who was just a baby when his mother … a baby when his mother died, has gone missing. Darcy must return home and face her past in order to save him.
Once back in Ohio, Darcy realizes there’s more to Emerson’s disappearance—and to the sudden retirement of her mother, Rosalind—than meets the eye. As she works to make inroads with Rosalind, Darcy begins to unravel a decades-old secret that devastated her family and forced a wedge between her and Michael Varano, the man she left heartbroken when she vanished after the funeral. After carrying the scars of that fateful night for almost a decade, Darcy is determined to find closure, healing, and maybe even love where she lost them all in the first place—right back home where she belongs.
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A dreaded homecoming leads to personal discovery and forgiveness of past grievances. Christine Nolfi’s cast of irresistible characters drew me in and held me captive. Her attention to detail brings her lovely setting to life. A novel of familial love you won’t soon forget.
The Road She Left Behind was an inspiring novel about family. Darcy fled her home town eight years ago after her father and her sister died in an accident. She never spoke to her mother again. Now, her family’s housekeeper Latrice has called her to tell her that her nephew Emerson is missing. Emerson was only a few months old when his mother died and Darcy hasn’t seen him since. Darcy doesn’t understand why Latrice called her to help. She doesn’t want to go home to help, because she doesn’t want to face her mother who blamed her for the accident. And she doesn’t want to see Michael who she has a long history with but hasn’t talked to in eight years. In the end, Darcy ends up going home. She quickly becomes involved in some situations that she did not expect at all. Can what happened in the past be repaired enough for the family to pull together now?
Christine Nolfi, Author of “The Road She Left Behind” has written a thought-provoking, emotional, captivating, and heartwarming novel. The Genres for this novel are Fiction and Women’s Fiction. The timeline for this story is within an eight-year period. The author describes her dramatic characters as complex, complicated, quirky, and dysfunctional.
Darcy Goodridge is finally coming back home after being on the road and in different places for the last eight years. Darcy had been running away after the deaths of her sister and her father. The dysfunctional family dynamics and deep dark secrets were also part of Darcy’s motivation to stay away from home. Now an emergency phone call about Emerson, Darcy’s young nephew has her coming home.
Is it true that there’s no place like home? Darcy is left with an emotional mess to deal with, and other problems. Christine Nolfi has written a story that had me chuckling a few times and also tearful. ( Be warned there are some Kleenex moments)
I would highly recommend this insightful and thought-provoking novel. I appreciate that the author discusses the importance, of family, friendship, forgiveness, second-chances, communication, love and hope.
#NetGalley #LakeUnion and #Christine Nolfi
Christine Nolfi has done it again, another great story that hits every one of your emotions. This one is about family, secrets, love and love lost, betrayal and forgiveness. The characters are wonderful, I do hope that there will be a sequel to this story.
The Road She left behind is an emotionally compelling book about a family torn apart by grief, guilt, and lies. Darcy left her hometown, her family, and her best friend eight years earlier following the deaths of her father and sister. She hasn’t spoken to her mother in all that time, and now is urged to come home when her young nephew disappears. The family dynamics in this novel are taut and honest, so many layers of frustration and hurt festering beneath the surface. The characters are well-written, true to life people who are complicated, stubborn, and endearing.
Another must read by Christine Nolte. We meet Darcy Goodridge, as she leaves job number eight, headed for number nine, when she gets a call from her mother’s housekeeper, imploring her to come home. Grudgingly she does, reluctant to experience a reunion with her estranged mother, after eight years.
So we are introduced to her family and neighbors, where secrets, lingering conflicts and heartache have alienated many. But her young nephew Emerson needs some stability in his life, and Darcy may be the right one to provide it.
But first, she must try to repair the relationships that she has been running from, and settle her own conflicts.
Christine Nolte is a talented story teller, with lovely locations, well developed and complicated characters and the ability to draw the reader in. I really enjoyed everything about this book, and appreciate the ARC for my honest review. I highly recommend it!
In The Road She Left Behind, Christine Nolfi takes her gift of storytelling to new heights. You’ll find it all here: deft prose, troubled relationships that overcome and triumph, and a plot that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Nolfi writes smart, sensitive fiction that will have you hooked from page one. The Road She Left Behind captures the core of the Goodridge family, a family broken by tragedy and long-held secrets. The stain moves through their lives affecting friendship and love until Darcy Goodridge returns home, forced to confront the past. Faced with a mother who has turned her back on her, the boy she once loved and never forgot, and the child who’s lost everything, Darcy embarks on a path to right the wrongs all while unraveling the tale of that tragic night.
Nolfi creates a beautiful, touching story with compelling characters reminiscent of the deep love and friendship found in Steel Magnolias. For family isn’t always those we are born into, but the richer connections we are fortunate to find. At the very heart of The Road She Left Behind are the powerful lessons of humanity: forgiveness, healing, and letting go, all woven together with the threads that bind family and friends. You will laugh, you will cry, you will root these characters on, and miss them profusely when they’re gone. I know I do.
July 31, 2020
So real!
True to life characters working through some very tough stuff. And all of it feels very realistic. I don’t know how she does it every time!
The Road She Left Behind
I loved this story about healing and second chances! Darcy suffers an awful tragedy and blames herself. She thinks the only way she can cope is to leave her family and everyone she knows and start over… and over and over. The only way to heal her broken heart is to go back to the place and people where the tragedy happened.
Christine Nolfi does a great job at developing characters. I often have a hard time getting into the book in the first couple of chapters, but not with The Road She Left Behind. I was hooked after the first page.
This is my first read from Christine Nolfi, but it won’t be the last. I can’t wait to start another book from this author.
(I won this book in a book review group. I was not asked to give it a 5 star review. The thoughts in this review are my thoughts and not impacted by the gifted book.)
Darcy has gotten good at running from the past. So much so that she moves to a new job, in a new city, every year on the anniversary of her father and sister’s death. Darcy has only made one friend in all those years, a young man by the name of Samson, and she sees him as a younger brother, but even that isn’t enough to keep her from moving. Even worse, she doesn’t even know her sister’s son, Emerson, which is a shame because in the 8 years she’s been running, he’s grown into a fine and respectable boy. But when he disappears, Darcy must fight her instincts to stay away from her overbearing mother and head back to help in the search.
This one had so many feels. Darcy’s mother, Rosalind, is a piece of work. She uses the fact that she was hurt in the past to shut everyone out, and while she sees that some of the people have good reason to be on the receiving end of her anger, Darcy certainly doesn’t deserve it. It’s Emerson who is the key to unlocking the relationship between the two, and perhaps a bit of Samson, whose kind and gentle ways can win anyone over. There was a bit of everything going on in this book, pain and healing, adultery, second chance love, and forgiveness. It ticked a lot of feel-good boxes. The only downside for me was how rushed the ending felt. There was so much fantastic groundwork laid out, and then it felt a bit rushed, but I still felt pretty great finishing it, and for that, it gets 5 stars.
The Road She Left Behind by Christine Nolfi was an excellent book. It captured my attention and kept it as she introduced new characters and new information about what happened 8 years prior. I really disliked Darcy’s mother, but I am sure that was intended. Samson was delightful and without him tagging along, I’m not sure Darcy would have made her way back home as soon as she did. The pacing of the book was perfect, but I was sad for it to be over as I thought there could and should have been more. Hoping for a sequel.
This book was truly an amazing book to read. About a life story of a young girl named Darcy who carried around a lot of guilt. Accidents happen in life. But when they do they hurt us so deeply and drag us down. this is a very intriguing story totally touches your heart and soul. I highly brecommend this book to anyone to read this wonderful novel. Christina Nolfi is a fabulous author.
I found this book to be one of those gems that ends up totally surprising you. Give it a try.
I was given an advanced copy to read in exchange for an honest review.
When tragedy hits you either stand and fight or you run from the hurt pain and guilty. Darcy ran from her home leaving her critical mother, loving house keeper, the love of her life Michael, and the new baby boy Emerson, her sister Elizabeth had just weeks before her death. Darcy never stays anywhere longer than a year.
It is a family emergency, Emerson is missing that finally brings Darcy home. Will Darcy be able to finally build a relationship with her mother? Will Darcy get a second chance at love? Is it too later for Darcy to be there for her nephew Emerson like she promised her sister?
I enjoyed this story because the characters were believable. The events and reactions were in align with human nature. There was not a magically wand to fix the issues that have torn them apart.
Is there anyone out there that doesn’t have family issues? I suspect the most common answer will be no. When I grew up, we had so many disagreements and issues in my small immediate family that at one point we had a running joke that if you looked up the word “dysfunctional” in the dictionary, you would find a photo of us. Here we are years later, and thankfully due to the internet; it is easier now to frequently update our family photo for the online dictionary. The Road She Left Behind by Christine Nolfi gives you a glimpse into the lives of a very similar family, and how grief, deception, and guilt can tear a family apart, but that love can always bring it back together.
Darcy Goodridge left home 8 years ago after her father and sister died in a terrible automobile accident. Consumed by guilt over the accident, and anger with her mother Rosalind, she vows never to return back to her hometown until a phone call from her mother’s housekeeper causes her to reluctantly return home to help for the search of her now missing 8-year-old nephew. When Darcy gets home, all of her past comes back to light, and she is forced to deal with her tumultuous relationship with her mother, a scared and lonely nephew, and Michael Varano, the past love she walked away from without any explanation the day after her sister’s funeral. As the days unfold, Darcy learns more about the mother she never really knew, the decades long rift between Rosalind and their neighbors the Varanos’ and why she was suddenly forced as a child to discontinue her friendship with their son. Darcy is determined to break through her mother’s shell and mend the relationships that were broken so long ago, and hopefully find closure to the bitterness that she’s held on to for so long.
From page one you will be immediately drawn to this story, you will become engrossed in the characters’ lives, and want to find out exactly what happened with the Goodridge family to cause such discord. At times the novel almost reads like a thriller, because you are trying so hard on your own to figure these people out. Christine Nolfi’s writing is very fluid and smooth, which makes her novel extremely easy to read. Darcy’s mother Rosalind is an excellent example of the mom you love to hate, yet as the story unfolds you find yourself wanting to like her more and more. Rosalind is the epitome of a mother scorned, and the author was able to really project the perfect “tone” to her character in words. There were times I found myself sniggering at how her dialogue is so well written. As for the housekeeper Latrice, all I could picture was Mammy from Gone With the Wind, and in my mind is was absolutely perfect. (Clearly my favorite character of them all).
The only downfall to this novel was that I wanted more. I felt like the ending was abrupt, and after being so involved in the story and the characters’ lives, I felt like I needed more depth on how things evolved. When I closed the book, I just sighed to myself, I would have loved an epilogue. I guess I just didn’t want to say goodbye.
No matter what, I still walked away feeling completely satisfied after reading this delightful novel. I devoured it. This book has just enough drama, thriller, romance and let’s not forget ‘family dysfunction’ in it to please almost every reader. This is my first Christine Nolfi novel, but I assure you it won’t be my last.
Thank You so much to @BookSparks, Christine Nolfi, and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC of The Road She Left Behind for an unbiased and honest review.
Wow. The Road She Left Behind by Christine Nolfi touched me. A young woman has been drifting for eight years, ever since an accident that left her family in tatters. She returns to her home when she receives a call saying her 8-year-old nephew is missing. Somethings have not changed much since she left. Her mother is just as incorrigible as she was before. But the reason she has been called home is more than just a missing boy. Due to recent events, her whole life will change again and she will have to take on more responsibilities and work on relationship building with family and friends. I thought everything about the book was wonderful. I liked the relationships between the main characters, the storyline, and the imagery.
I think this is my favorite book by Christine Nolfi. She captured me from the beginning and kept me turning the pages. It is a fast moving story of family dynamics and the effects that grief, loss, lies and guilt can have a a family. Darcy left home eight years ago after tragedy befell her family. Now she is back to try to repair the relationship with her nephew, who needs her, and her cantankerous Mother. The characters are so realistic and I felt like I knew each and every one. Christine has a way of making you feel a part of her stories. I could feel the sadness and the guilt, but most of all, the love. Grief can tear a family apart, but love can put it back together. There is a lot of things going on in this book but Christine Nolfi writes with such clarity and has a special gift of writing about families and all the complexities that entails. I feel this is her best book to date and I have read all her books. She is one of my favorite authors. This book will make you mad, sad and feel love like no other. But you will feel every emotion. A wonderful book by a very gifted storyteller. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on such an incredible, heartfelt book. Grab this one and be transported. Thank you Christine Nolfi for such an amazing read. 1000 stars!!
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I’m giving an honest review for a ARC copy of the book I received from the author.
I absolutely loved this book!! It was entertaining, romantic, heartfelt, humorous and moving. It did not disappoint this reader. This story begins with a young woman Darcy Goodridge, who is leaving her job to go home to Ohio. She hasn’t been home in eight years because of events that happened long ago before she left. Losing her father and sister eight years ago was more than Darcy could handle. It was what drove her away for eight long years. She spent her time moving from one job to the next, never putting down permanent roots. Darcy has been beckoned home by the family house keeper who was more of a mother and friend than Darcy’s own mom ever was. Darcy’s young nephew is in trouble, he’s run away from home. Darcy must return home to help find him, and she is in for a few more surprises upon her return. Can Darcy mend fences along with her broken heart? Can she finally hash things out with her mother before time gets away from them again…can she keep the promise to her sister she made so long ago…
What I love most about Christine Nolfi’s books is that she draws her readers in at the first chapter and weaves a beautiful heartfelt story. You don’t want to walk away or put the book down. Her books are believable and realistic. You are drawn in until the very last page. I have to say to date, this is one of my favorite novels by her and I will re-read it again and again. I highly recommend this book to her followers, and if this is your first book by this author you will be happy you chose it. Enjoy!
Thank you to Christine Nolfi for allowing me the opportunity to read and enjoy this book. Again this is my honest review for her book The Road She Left Behind.
I fell in love with the characters. Emerson is only 8 but he sure is a smart boy who stands up to his grandmother and somehow felt she was dying. He ran away so the housekeeper would call his Aunt Darcy who hasn’t been home in 8 years.
Through pain, mistakes and not communicating they learn from Emerson who won’t let them give up on each other anymore that they can learn to love once again. As much as I loved Emerson, my favorite part of the story was when Darcy finally confronted her mother. She told her mother she had figured out that her father was unfaithful to her mother and because of that they let the hatred of each other, put her and her sister in a prison. They didn’t come home, they didn’t spend time with them, it was their hatred of each other that created the life her and her sister had. She was still giving Emerson that same life and it was time to end it. Oh if this was to happen in real life, maybe life would be so much better for so many kids. But I am reviewing the book and to get everyone’s attention, Emerson ran away again. Emerson and his Aunt Darcy ended up in the river and Michael saved them. After that, they began to heal as a family and the friendship that had ended years ago, thanks to Darcy telling her mother it wasn’t her friend’s fault. She kept her husbands secret and he was a predator and that is what a predator does, goes after women.
This was such a well-written story and I am hoping there will be another book to tell Darcy, Michael and Emerson’s story.