What You Have Left: A Novel

by Will Allison

What You Have Left is an unforgettable story of love, loss, and, most of all, longing. In 1976, on the day of his wife's funeral, Wylie Greer drops off his five-year-old daughter, Holly, at his father-in-law's dairy farm on the outskirts of Columbia, South Carolina. Wylie tells her he just needs a little time to clear his head, but thirty years pass before Holly sees her father again -- "time I spent wondering what I'd done to make him leave," she says, "and what I could do to make him come back." What You Have Left is about a father and daughter trying to make their way back to one another across decades of uncertainty and ambivalence -- all the while hoping to discover that what they have left is worth salvaging. It's also the story of a grandfather bent on suicide, a pioneering female NASCAR driver, a heartbroken amnesiac, a video poker junkie, and assorted other liars, cheaters, and lovers who, despite their best intentions, never quite live up to their own expectations. Are we doomed to repeat our parents' mistakes? Can lies save love instead of destroying it? Is letting go the same as giving up? Shot through with sly humor and a knowing sympathy for human weakness, What You Have Left takes up these and other questions as it examines the weight of history, the nature of loss, and the possibility of forgiveness. Making use of bold shifts in viewpoint and time, Allison proves a brilliant observer of the emotional legacies handed down from parent to child and the ways loss defines us. This stunning debut brims with an affection for humanity exactly as it is -- in all its ignorance and awareness, its swagger and humility, its despair and hope.

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 5, 2007

About the author

I was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and now live with my wife and daughter in South Orange, New Jersey. In between, I've lived in Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and elsewhere; taught creative writing at The Ohio State University, Butler University, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis; and worked as executive editor of Story, editor at large of Zoetrope: All-Story, editor of Novel & Short Story Writer's Market, and as a freelance editor and writer. I've also been on staff at the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. I received a BA in English and political science from Case Western Reserve University as well as an MA in English and an MFA in creative writing from Ohio State. I'm the grateful recipient of grants, fellowships, and scholarships from the Indiana Arts Commission, Arts Council of Indianapolis, Ohio Arts Council, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (including a 1996 work-study scholarship and the 2008 Allan Collins Fellowship in Fiction). My first novel, What You Have Left, was published in 2007 by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Paperback and audio book editions were published in 2008. A paperback reissue is due out in April 2011, and my second novel, Long Drive Home, will be published by Free Press in May 2011.

Reviews

[Marcia Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book got many fine reviews from other readers, so I gave it a chance. The first part of the novel held my attention and tugged at my heart. But as the book continued, I found it less soulful and more bogged down by minutiae that did not move me at all.

If you are a fan of amatuer car racing and absent fathers, you might give this novel a try.