The Left-Behind Child
- Author Romalyn Ante
- Narrator Romalyn Ante
- Publisher Random House
- Publish Date 13 August 2026
- Run Time 7 hours and 19 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Biographical fiction, Family life fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Coming of age.
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What to expect
A mother forced to leave her family. A daughter forced to reckon with what is left behind.
Lipa, Philippines, 2001. Neneng is 11 when her mother, Rosa, leaves to work as a nurse overseas: abandoning Neneng to care for a distant father, unsettled relatives and rebellious siblings. Their home shatters, and Neneng finds herself facing womanhood alone. From that point on, she vows never to become a nurse, and never to trust her mother again.
But Neneng is more like the strong-minded Rosa than she realises. As Neneng fights to survive and build a new life, the darknesses in the family’s past come to light, and the reasons why Rosa needed to leave become clearer. When a twist of fate brings a new mother figure into her orbit, Neneng will come to understand why the profession of nursing matters so deeply to Rosa and – when crisis strikes – what ‘care’ means to Neneng.
'A beautiful, hypnotic novel – positively capacious in its depth, its texture, and its heart' CLAIRE LOMBARDO
'Captures brilliantly the complexity of a teenage girl's feelings for her absent mother' RACHEL JOYCE
© Romalyn Ante 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
| Author | Romalyn Ante |
|---|---|
| Narrator | Romalyn Ante |
| Duration | 7 hours and 19 minutes |
| Release Date | |
| ISBN | 9781529991246 |
| Format | Audiobook |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Genre | Biographical fiction, Family life fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Coming of age |
| Availability | AU, GB, IE |
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