The Leaving Room

· Macmillan Young Listeners · Narrated by Amber McBride
Audiobook
2 hr 40 min
Unabridged
Eligible
This book will become available on October 14, 2025. You will not be charged until it is released.
40% price drop on Aug 19

About this audiobook

"Achingly tender."
"Intimate and astonishing."

For fans of You've Reached Sam and If I Stay, a hauntingly beautiful, ultimately hopeful novel-in-verse about a girl in between life and death, by National Book Award Finalist Amber McBride, who also narrates.


Gospel is the Keeper of the Leaving Room—a place all young people must phase through when they die. The young are never ready to leave; they need a moment to remember and a Keeper to help their wispy souls along.

When a random door opens and a Keeper named Melodee arrives, their souls become entangled. Gospel's seriousness melts and Melodee’s fear of connection fades, but still—are Keepers allowed to fall in love? Now they must find a way out of the Leaving Room and be unafraid of their love. In a novel that takes place over four minutes, National Book Award finalist Amber McBride explores connection, memory, and hope in ways that are unforgettable and poignant.

"[Amber] McBride brings a special gift to this production by narrating her own material. Skillfully, her pacing reflects the verse format of her novel, providing the rhythms she intends to her words." —AudioFile on We Are All So Good at Smiling

A Macmillan Audio production from Feiwel & Friends

About the author

Amber McBride’s debut young adult novel, Me (Moth), was a finalist for the National Book Awards and won the 2022 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, among many other accolades. Her second young adult novel, We Are All So Good at Smiling, was a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, and praised for offering “important messages, uniquely delivered” by Kirkus in a starred review. Gone Wolf, Amber McBride’s middle grade fiction debut, was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Listening information

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