The Left-Behind Child

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