Early Leaving: A Novel

“A mother goes to great lengths to defend her son in this sentimental domestic tale with a racial spin.” - Publishers Weekly“Goldman’s brutally honest dramatization of a dysfunctional family makes provocative reading.” - Booklist“Early Leaving is a delicate portrait of self-deception.” - Star News (Wilmington, N.C.)“It’s Early Leavings’ themes, rather than simply its plot, that make it a page-turning read.” - Lexington Herald-Leader“Early Leaving is a disturbing book about a teenager who is given every advantage but still goes horribly wrong.” - Detroit Free Press“Haunting questions of parenthood ripple through the pages of this thoughtful second novel.” - Seattle Post-Intelligencer“As in her first novel, The Slow Way Back, Goldman displays a keen eye here for the character-defining detail.” - Washington Post“Every mother should read … Judy Goldman’s new novel, Early Leaving … this tale is a nightmare-come-true, a riveting story of how the best paternal intentions can go horribly, horribly awry… . Goldman’s prose is rich and so descriptive… . Not only does Goldman use language nicely, she slices open the heart of family relationships with the skill of a surgeon. Each character is fully developed, and the anguish the family suffers is palpable. This is one book worth reading.” - Winston-Salem Journal“Every mother should read Judy Goldman’s new novel, Early Leaving.” - Winston-Salem Journal“Early Leaving is one of those novels you know you¹ll remember forever–the wisdom, the compassion, the absolutely brilliant portrait of motherhood. Judy Goldman has painted every parent’s worst nightmare, illuminating denial and everyday mistakes in a way that makes the reader shudder with recognition. Moving, heartbreaking and ultimately a testament to hope and survival, Early Leaving is an extraordinary novel.” - Jill McCorkle“We’ve all wondered just how well we know our children-or if we paint them in our minds with broad strokes to see them as the people we want them to be. Early Leaving is a sensitive, beautifully crafted story of one mother’s abrupt awakening to the truth that our relationships are never what they seem to be-not even the ones in which we take part.” - Jodi Picoult

Judy Goldman’s first novel, The Slow Way Back, won the Sir Walter Raleigh Fiction Award and the Mary Ruffin Poole First Work of Fiction Award, and was a finalist for the Southeast Booksellers Association’s Best Novel of the Year. She is also the author of two books of poetry. Her work has been published widely in literary journals, and her commentaries have aired on public radio. She and her husband live in Charlotte, North Carolina. They have two married children and twin granddaughters.