A big, heartrending novel about the entangled lives of two women in 1920s New England, both mothers to the same unforgettable girl.

In 1917 Beatrice Haven --- the unwed teenage daughter of wealthy Jewish industrialists --- sneaks out of her uncle’s house in the middle of the night in order to abandon her newborn baby at the foot of a pear to tree hoping the girl will be discovered by a poor Irish Catholic family led by headstrong Emma Murphy. Ten years later, Prohibition is in full swing and post-World War I America is in the grips of rampant xenophobia, and Bea’s hopes for her future remain unfulfilled. Seeking a refuge from her unhappiness, she returns to her uncle’s house on Cape Ann. But she discovers far more when the rum-running manager of the local quarry inadvertently reunites her with Emma Murphy and the abandoned child --- now a bright, bold, cross-dressing girl named Lucy Pear --- forever altering the fates of all three women.

In mesmerizing prose, award-winning author Anna Solomon weaves together an unforgettable group of characters as their lives collide on the New England coast. Set against one of America’s most turbulent decades, LEAVING LUCY PEAR delves into questions of class, freedom and the meaning of family, establishing Anna Solomon as one of our most captivating storytellers.