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For When I'm Gone
5.0 (1 rating)

For When I'm Gone

'Wonderfully assured' THE TIMES
'Pass the tissues...'EVENING STANDARD
'Beautifully written'THE SUN
'Prepare for heartbreak'WOMAN & HOME
'A beautiful story' LAURA PEARSON
'Brilliant' BELLA

Because there's never enough time to say goodbye...

Sylvia knows that she's running out of time. Very soon, she will exist only in the memories of those who loved her most and the pieces of her life she's left behind.

So she begins to write her husband a handbook for when she's gone, somewhere to capture the small moments of ordinary, precious happiness in their married lives. From raising their wild, loving son, to what to give their gentle daughter on her eighteenth birthday - it's everything she should have told him before it was too late.

But Sylvia also has a secret, one that she's saved until the very last pages. And it's a moment in her past that could change everything...

Praise for For When I'm Gone:

'Beautifully written, with powerful messages of hope' KATHERINE WEBB

'A moving portrait of a modern family in crisis' FRANCESCA HORNAK

'Ley took my breath away. Exquisitely written and deeply effective' KATE WEINBERG

'Heart-breaking. Beautifully written. Reminded me of Maggie O'Farrell' REBECCA THORNTON

'A beautiful, sharply observed tale of motherhood, complicated women and family dynamics' CHARLOTTE PHILBY

'Heartbreaking and yet uplifting... Rebecca Ley has written a wonderful debu't JENNY QUINTANA

'Rebecca Ley explores the need for love, forgiveness and remembrance that's within us all' WOMAN'S WEEKLY

Pages: 336

ISBN: 9781409195375

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Available in: Hardcover, Paperback

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Reader Reviews

5.0

1 rating

Rachel S.

Apr 6, 2026
This was such a heartbreaking book to read, I felt so much compassion throughout it, breast cancer is close to my heart and being a mother myself my ultimate worry is if something happened to me, the kids would grow up without a mother. This is exactly what Sylvia is going through, although with her it’s not a case of what if, it’s a case of when.
Knowing she hasn’t got much time left, she writes a manual for her husband to help him do the mundane daily chores, routines for the children etc.
This was a sad book and I cried often, once I had finished I was left with a book hangover and a sadness in my heart. I explained the book to my husband and started crying again. I am now an emotional wreck, but it was such a good true-to-life book which will make you think and maybe assess your own life if the inevitable did come along.
A brilliant debut and I look forward to reading more from Rebecca Ley