Hearts We Leave Behind is a heart-tugging tale about love and loss, the bonds of sisterhood, and the power of forgiveness, woven around three memorable sisters who have nothing in common until they have everything...
Different flowers from the same garden, Stella (the doer), Daisy (the giver), and Willow (the thinker) share a typical soulful and stormy relationship growing up poor in rural Appalachia.
At 40, heartless and impossibly ambitious, Stella has it all, a successful NY-based company, a splendid apartment near Central Park, a fake British accent and plenty of cash in the bank. The price tag: ditching her penniless past for a fresh start. She hasn't spoken to her sisters in 18 years, lives alone, has no friends, pets, not even a plant.
Daisy, the middle sister, remains deeply rooted in her country dirt and wouldn't dream of leaving her beloved emerald forests. She has a heart the size of a blue whale, adopts stray cats, and talks to flowers. Some think she grows weed in her attic, but she's just happy.
Willow, the youngest and wise one, has been the family's sounding board, peacemaker and negotiator since she was ten; she became a psychiatrist.
Admitted to a NY hospital and diagnosed with a rare form of heart disease, Stella needs a heart transplant. Soon after her surgery, baffling changes happen, making her question the fancy fabric of her undernourished life, the choices she made, and herself. Her doctors say she only gained a new pump, not a new personality, but is her new heart doing more than just pumping blood through her body? It feels, thinks, remembers, and wants to take her back to where she swore she'd never return: home.
She reinvented herself once, and now her new heart is making her do it again, but at what cost this time?
