Leaving Thrushcross

The Thrushcross Chronicles #1

by Emma Burns

In Leaving Thrushcross, Harriet deals with the fallout from her beloved uncle’s death weeks before her eighteenth birthday. Her parents devoted all their time and energy to the upkeep of Thrushcross Grange, their crumbling ancestral mansion, so she grew up living with her Uncle Harry, learning to paint. Everyone knew she would inherit his millions, which her parents planned to use to save Thrushcross Grange. But when Uncle Harry dies suddenly, his mysterious wife claims the inheritance instead--and turns out to be an invaluable ally for Harriet, fighting for her independence. Harriet finds herself under pressure from multiple people, leading to intense conflicts in all areas of her life—friends, family, boyfriend, childhood sweetheart—that reveal the truth underlying the façade. Harriet gradually learns to stop letting herself be the pawn of her family and others and stand up for herself, to chase the life she really wants.

280 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 18, 2023

About the author

Did you know I have a podcast? It's true! Look for Sacred Cheese of Life on Apple Podcasts, or go to http://emmaburns.org and click on Sacred Cheese of Life. You can also see a lot of essays about fiction on the Story on the Brain link.

My favorite things are reading, writing, watching things, and putting them all together to analyze fiction as a whole in a fun and energetic way in order to improve my own writing. Sacred Cheese of Life!

This refers to something Stephen Crane mentions in a very weird narrator comment in a short story called "The Open Boat," where he's mulling the meaning of life and how it's possible these people could just up and die when they're so close to shore. How is that fair? Are they getting yanked away just as they reach the sacred cheese of life? What on earth is he talking about there?

I think it's about all those things we love so much that they make life worth living. For me that's a lot of things, but life would be empty without fiction, for sure. So I love to dig into what makes fiction work and use that to improve my own writing.