Try free for 30 days

A 30-day trial plus your first audiobook free.
1 credit/month after trial—to buy any title you like, yours to keep.
Listen all you want to a selection of thousands of Audible Originals, audiobooks and podcasts.
$16.45 a month after 30 day trial. Cancel anytime.
Left cover art

Left

By: Tamar Ossowski
Narrated by: Cassandra Morris, Kim McKean, Rachel Fulginiti
Free with 30-day trial

$16.45/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $26.99

Buy Now for $26.99

Pay using voucher balance (if applicable) then card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice and authorise Audible to charge your designated credit card or another available credit card on file.

Editorial reviews

A mother must make the tremendously difficult decision to run away with one daughter while leaving her autistic daughter behind. Tamar Ossowski crafts a haunting story, told from the sisters' alternating perspectives, about love, loss, and family. The performances particularly stand out. The three audio artists prove to be talented actors, capturing each character's unique voice. This task is not an easy one, as the point of view shifts around, from desperate, to loving, to childish, to wise. Together, these performers make Left: A Novel jump off the page. Listeners will be carried away by the emotional whirlwind of these characters' lives.

Publisher's Summary

Therese Wolley is a mother who has made a promise. She works as a secretary, shops for groceries on Saturdays, and takes care of her two girls. She doesn’t dwell on the fact that her girls are fatherless, mostly because her own father abandoned her before she was born and she has done just fine without him.

Even though her older daughter regularly wakes with nightmares and her younger one whispers letters under her breath, she doesn't shift from her resolve that everything will be fine. She promises... and they believe.

Until the morning an obituary in the newspaper changes everything. Therese immediately knows what she has to do. She cannot delay what she has planned, and she cannot find the words to explain her heartbreaking decision to her daughters. She considers her responsibilities, her girls, and her promise. Then she does the only thing that any real mother would do. She goes on the run with one daughter... and abandons the other.

Left is told from the perspectives of Franny, the autistic sister who is left behind; Matilda, the troubled older sister who vows to go back and save her; and Therese, a mother on the run.

©2013 Tamar Ossowski (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about Left

Average Customer Ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    2
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Not the best… p BBC ud

Look, it wasn’t horrible- I finished it- but it also wasn’t one that I would recommend. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen- it did, but not until about the last 20 mins of the story… there was just so much preamble and unnecessary/unrelated backstory, with too many obscure events all occurring at once.

I found the character of Therese weird and un-likeable, and really don’t understand why they didn’t just explain the whole thing to the girls from the beginning, considering the whole premise of the story is not as scandalous as it is made out to be…

I can’t say I recommend this one. (To be fair, it is an audible freebie and was only a couple of hours long).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

The story line is a great idea but so much of the dialogue is hard to follow or not realistic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.