The O’Shea sisters couldn’t be more different.
Allison, an obstetrician, has always put others before herself and is torn between her job and young family.
Prizewinning film director Bridie hasn’t had work in over a decade, though her actor husband is on the brink of stardom.
Clare, desperate for a baby, is bereft when her wife leaves her after their latest IVF failure.
And Emma, the youngest, has turned to God to fill the aching loneliness in her life.
When their only brother Daniel is killed, the four women drift even further apart… Then, on the third anniversary of Daniel’s death, Clare proposes an idea: they should trace the many recipients saved by his donated organs. Perhaps their brother’s gift of life can bring them back together again?
I’ll Leave You With This is a heartbreaking, funny, thought-provoking and honest novel about a brother’s legacy and the tangled bonds of sisterhood. I’ll be honest, I was reluctant to read this. It’s been a tough week and I thought this book might upset me. How wrong I was; I devoured it in one night.
Kylie Ladd is the author Mothers and Daughters and The Way Back, which has been optioned for a film. She’s also a psychologist with a PhD in neuropsychology, giving her a unique insight into complex family dynamics, something she demonstrates in her novels, which generally explore the impact of momentous or devastating events.
In I’ll Leave You With This, we have four very different sisters, each still grappling with the traumatic loss of their brother. Due to age and personality differences, they weren’t ever really close – even after losing both of their parents – and Daniel’s death has only magnified that. But then, at a dinner to commemorate the three-year anniversary of his death, Clare announces that she’s searching for the recipients of his organs.
This is subject matter close to Kylie Ladd’s heart: her own brother Piers died unexpectedly at 39. He was an organ donor, and years later the family received an anonymous letter from the recipient of his kidney, sharing the impact that had on his life. You can see why I thought I needed the right time to read this. Turns out, anytime is the perfect time to read this excellent novel.
Told through shifts in time and alternating perspectives of each of the sisters, I’ll Leave You With This is beautifully written, insightful and extremely moving. Generally, in a multi-perspective story, one character stands out as my favourite. Here, I genuinely found it difficult to choose; each of the sisters is compelling, with their own complex lives and struggles. But I was particularly drawn to Bridie, the director of a hugely successful film, but nothing for a few years. The shadow of their rather fabulous brother looms large throughout.
This is a story filled with hope and humanity, that asks big ethical questions and takes us into the heart of a fractured family, all yearning for connection. Ladd packs a lot into this, with themes of grief, sexuality, religion, infertility and, ultimately, sisterhood.
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