Leaving Time Picoult, Jodi

A thirteen-year-old girl searches for her mother who vanished from an elephant sanctuary a decade ago. Jenna Metcalf recruits a washed-up psychic and a jaded private detective to help unravel what happened the night her scientist mother disappeared, leaving behind a trail of cryptic journal entries about elephant grief and memory. Picoult weaves together multiple timelines — Jenna's present-day investigation, her mother's research into how elephants mourn their dead, and the events leading up to that fateful night. The parallels between elephant behavior and human loss become increasingly haunting as the truth emerges. This is Picoult at her most ambitious: part mystery, part meditation on memory and maternal bonds, with a final twist that reframes everything you thought you knew. For readers who like their family dramas laced with scientific curiosity and aren't afraid of an ending that lingers.