Book - Leaving Time

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult 

"Alice Metcalf was a devoted mother, loving wife, and accomplished scientist who studied grief among elephants. Yet it's been a decade since she disappeared under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind her small daughter, husband, and the animals to which she devoted her life. All signs point to abandonment . . . or worse. Still Jenna--now thirteen years old and truly orphaned by a father maddened by grief--steadfastly refuses to believe in her mother's desertion. So she decides to approach the two people who might still be able to help her find Alice: a disgraced psychic named Serenity Jones, and Virgil Stanhope, the cynical detective who first investigated her mother's disappearance and the death of one of her mother's co-workers. Together these three lonely souls will discover truths destined to forever change their lives. Deeply moving and suspenseful, Leaving Time is a radiant exploration of the enduring love between mothers and daughters"- review & image from worldcat.org

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JHT comments - I’m not sure what to say about this book except, "read it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did." Almost anything else I say might be a spoiler. Some reviewers thought there was too much about elephants. I thought those parts were interesting. I enjoy books that explore concepts of time – and this book certainly does that. Read it and see what you think!

Additional comments not related to spoilers :) 

There must be something very special about people's connection to the land and animals in Africa. I've sensed it in other books such as James Michener's "The Covenant" and Alexandra Fuller's books about growing up in Africa. Picoult says in "Leaving Time,"  “… there is a romance to Africa. You can see a sunset and believe you have witnessed the hand of God. You watch the slow lope of a lioness and forget to breathe. … When you are in Africa, you feel primordial, rocked in the cradle of the cradle of the world.”

I love Picoult's description of motherhood. It was in the novella "Larger Than Life" which is a prequel to "Leaving Time" and included in the edition I read. Alice is reflecting on taking care of baby elephant and how much time and effort it took. “There is a reason people say being a mother is the hardest job in the world: You do not sleep and you do not get vacation time. You do not lave your work on your desk at the end of the day. Your briefcase is your heart, and you are riffling through it constantly. Your office is as wide as the world, and your punch card is measured not in hours but in a lifetime.” 

reviews here