The Leaving [Kindle Edition]

Gabriella West (Author)

Book Description

At 15, Cathy Quinn is a complex teen living in 1980s Ireland. As the book opens she discovers to her shock that her charming older brother Stevie, who's gay, is falling in love with the one boy in school whom she likes. This will mean a weakening of the close friendship that she and her brother have, which she feels is the only thing keeping her going.

But this is just the start of more serious challenges ahead for Cathy. Over her last two years of school, this tough but emotionally sensitive character will struggle with her dysfunctional family, come to terms with an overpowering attraction to her best friend, Jeanette, and face the momentous decision to leave Ireland for an uncertain future. 

As Railroad Man author Alle Wells puts it: "The Leaving shares an insightful look into a young woman's quest for true love." 

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you're looking for something with a little bite, something that will challenge you, something that will take you back to those not-always-so-halcyon days of your teens as you assess where you've come and how you got here; then The Leaving is the perfect catalyst. - The Rainbow Reader

Absorbing is the word that comes to mind to sum up this novel. It is written in first person and has a distinct narrative voice. It is not light fare - it is a deep and insightful look at the character's coming of age, coming to terms, and coming to acceptance. - Kate Genet, author of Remnant and Orange Moon

I love reading books that feel like they are told from the heart. "The Leaving" gives me that feeling. - Alle Wells, author of Railroad Man, on Alle's Five-Star Reviews blog

West is especially adept at capturing the complex, difficult and sometimes challenging choices facing a teenager in life. - J.J. Collins, BooksReview4U blog

From the Back Cover

Gabriella West is also the author of the lesbian historical novel Time of Grace.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 460 KB
• Print Length: 232 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Shaggy Dog Publications (July 7, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005BSYMQ4
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #507,652 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant and Beautiful Book July 22, 2011

By Kate Genet

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I sat down by the fire on a snowy afternoon with this book, intending only to read for a couple of hours, before setting it aside to do something else. But this is a completely absorbing book and it would not let me put it down. I stopped only for something to eat then took up where I'd so briefly left off.

Absorbing is the word that comes to mind to sum up this novel. It is written in first person and has a distinct narrative voice. It is not light fare - it is a deep and insightful look at the character's coming of age, coming to terms, and coming to acceptance. It never wavers in its focus and tells a story of confusion, obsession, need and the complete inability of the main character to compromise herself - she will not be other than she is, and in this there is a lesson for all of us, something to think about and admire.

Sometimes books speak to us with a familiarity that echoes our own experience, and we are lucky when this happens, but even if this is not the case, there are some books with aspects that touch on the universal, here the oft-painful voyage of discovery we all go through as we learn who and what we are; especially for those of us whose expressions of sexuality are not mainstream. This is quite an extraordinary book and Ms. West has gained in me a reader for life.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars No sweetener added May 13, 2012

By Mirrani

Format:Kindle Edition

The Leaving was described as "a realistic look at adolescence and first love" and it cannot be denied that this well describes the book for prospective readers. The story is very realistic, with realistic relationships and feelings, including much confusion regarding relationships between both friends and lovers. No sweetener is added to the emotion or background of the characters, they are purely themselves, showing us life through their eyes. The title itself comes full circle from the beginning of the book, where Cathy and her brother are in school, each taking their turns in participating in the Leaving, graduating school and moving on into adulthood. They find they are leaving previous lives and relationships behind them, something I thought was rather fitting. In reading the original description, I did expect a little more of a love triangle aspect of the story, perhaps more focus on the relationships mentioned, which I felt somewhat dumped into the middle of, but such is the case with meeting someone new. They have had lives before I came along, the feeling only adds to the realness of the characters and their situations.

As an American, I felt it was somewhat strange trying to experience the events and emotions behind The Leaving. Having not grown up in Ireland or otherwise experienced life around that part of the world in the early eighties, I was uncertain that I could believe that every person encountered in the book should feel so negatively about themselves or their situation. The book introduced misery and despair into the lives of those within, offering no moment of happiness to anyone and I would hope that even the most upset of persons would be able to find even a speck of joy in some random moments; laugh at a joke, be amused at a movie or book, fall in love with a new place or experience, but that did not happen often enough to these characters. Cathy, who tells the story, constantly focuses on what is wrong with the every event in her life (even the rare happy ones) as she and her brother, Stevie, go about their lives resigned to the misery that is their shared existence. They are aware of their situation and simply accept that it is how it will always be, the only escape is to flee.

Surprisingly, even after reading through all of Cathy's focus on the despair of her situation in her family, friends and in place in her own country, I found myself wanting to know more about her, wanting to know if she would find a way to change even one little thing to make a difference in it all. Though it wasn't a cheerful book, it also was not a morbid tale of gloom and doom, simply a sort reminder that this is life for someone somewhere in the world. The story's rotation through leaving school, friends, family, country and an old life was somehow addictive, leaving me feeling as if I had just been introduced to someone new at a bar and we sitting down to learn about each other. I would hope that, like me, other readers will discover how change is possible if you really want to step outside of something to reach for it and that they will learn to find the future in front of them, no matter what might have happened in the past.

Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Deeply felt and expertly crafted April 11, 2012

By K. OConnell

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Perfectly titled, The Leaving stands for so much more than the milestone it's named for. This unique coming-of-age read captures a moment in time as teenager Cathy Quinn navigates the end of high school life in Dublin, and the beginning of a life with adult choices. Gabriella West has created in Cathy a very real protagonist who's the unflinching explorer of her own heart and mind. Sometimes raw, yet riddled with humorous moments, this is the self-examining first-person narrative of a teenager who knows who she is at her core: smart, awkward, angry, longing, selfish, and selfless.

Deeply felt, and expertly crafted, The Leaving, is a must-read for anyone wanting to reconnect with that time in life when we're about to be set free on the world, and the world set free on us.

More About the Author

Gabriella West was born in Santa Barbara, CA in 1967. In 1969, her parents moved to Ireland, and she grew up there, studying English Literature and Italian at Trinity College, Dublin.

She earned an MA degree in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University in 1995.

She's published two well-reviewed novels. "Time of Grace" (Wolfhound Press, 2002), the story of a passionate love affair between a young English governess and a maid, is set in Ireland against the backdrop of the 1916 Easter Rising. "The Leaving" (2011) is a semi-autobiographical look at a rebellious adolescent girl coming of age in Dublin in the mid-1980s.

She often reviews indie/small press books on her blog, http://gabriellawest.net. Her day job is proofreading and editing. (http://editforindies.com)

Her eclectic body of work includes novels, erotic romances, and personal essays. She lives in San Francisco, CA, where she enjoys film, birding, hiking, and reading.