In the final year of World War II, Audrey is holding tightly to her dream of becoming a painter, while falling hard for a naval doctor. Not long after they marry he' s sent overseas, leaving her alone in Washington, DC. On a whim, Audrey rents a room to Lucille, launching an unlikely friendship that' s a comfort to them both. But nothing is quite what it seems in this profound and tightly woven story spanning nearly three decades. Although Lucille' s past has been a mystery to Audrey, nothing prepares her for the shock when Lucille abandons their makeshift family- including her child- and retreats to her orchard home in North Carolina. When the women meet again in 1973, Lucille is intent on mending the past. But Audrey lost faith in Lucille' s dependability years ago. Instead, she' s focused on leaving her unhappy marriage. Lake, the daughter Lucille left behind, is trapped in an abusive relationship, seeking the love she has long felt missing. If You Leave is an intimate, immersive story exploring motherhood, love, and art- the challenges of each- as two mothers and one daughter carve a wayward path toward reconciliation.
"If Hutton's prose were a painting, it would be a Vermeer."
Alexandra Zapruder, author of Twenty-Six Seconds and Salvaged Pages
"If You Leave is tender and razor-sharp, empathetic and unsentimental. Its evocation of wartime Washington, DC, captures brilliantly the texture of everyday life, both the limbo of waiting for the war's end and the pinched quality of women's lives. Margaret Hutton has written a wonderful novel about two indelible women, working through the meaning of motherhood and selfhood as the country changes around them. It's about betrayals and forgiveness, the necessity-and the costs-of leaving, about coming, however belatedly, into your own. Beautiful."
Molly McCloskey, author of Straying and Circles Around the Sun: In Search of a Lost Brothe
"Exquisite! With a painter's skill, Margaret Hutton builds up layers of longing worthy of Elizabeth Strout and William Trevor. On every page, If You Leave pits desire against duty, somehow convincing the reader to root for both. Each deftly drawn character wants the freedom to leave, but no one wants to be abandoned. Or, to quote the novel itself, "Who's in charge of love? It's loose in the world, nobody steering it."
