Jenna Metcalf's Leaving Time

Imagine how it would feel to lose the most important person in your life. Leaving Time is a novel that tells the story of Jenna Metcalf’s extensive search for her mother, Alice Metcalf. Alice disappeared 10 years ago after she released herself from a hospital. Her father, Thomas, is no help, because he is living in a mental institution and constantly confuses Jenna as her Alice. Jenna enlists the help of Serenity Jones, an old psychic, and Virgil Stanhope, a past investigator. Together the three unlikely friends work together to unravel the disappearance of Jenna’s mother. By evaluating, predicting, and questioning, the story of the Metcalfs can be further analyzed. Jodi Picoult characterizes Jenna as curious and wise. She is curious for …show more content…
My first prediction is that Thomas Metcalf was abusive towards Alice, which was an important part to her disappearance. One reason I believe this is because there was evidence that shows Alice was having an affair. If one’s wife was cheating on them, it is very possible that the husband would physically harm her. Jenna vividly remembers her father figure as being a different man than her biological father, which strongly indicates that her mother was having an affair. “I know who gave my mother that necklace. I know why my parents were fighting back then. I know who, all those years ago, I wished was my dad. Now I just have to find Gideon again” (Picoult 193). Additionally, Virgil Stanhope, the investigator for this case, continues to point to abuse as a cause for her disappearance. If anyone would know why she left, it would be the person who worked strictly with this case. The second reason I believe that Thomas was abusive towards Alice was because of his slightly abnormal personality. He was always very concerned with his research, and was not afraid to lay a hand on one who dared to touch it. If Thomas had the slightest feeling that Alice was going to take it, he very well may have hurt her. He was also a private man who did not share much about himself with others. Consequently, if he were abusive, he definitely would not have shared that information with anyone. My second prediction is that Serenity …show more content…
Each character in this novel has captivated my attention and the themes throughout the book have been very interesting. The majority of these themes relate to the sadness, but willingness to hope, when a loved one is lost