What Grief Leaves Behind

Some things cannot be dissolved in a single act. Some things require staying. The story isn't finished. It never quite is. What Grief Leaves Behind follows the consequences of everything A Thousand Years of Wrong Hands set in motion — and then, in its second arc, follows Kolab back to the present day. She wakes up changed in ways she doesn't yet have words for, carrying a grief that finally has a specific shape. The Neak Ta, still eating corn, has something to tell her. And somewhere in Siem Reap, a quietly extraordinary historian named Bonarith — too many books, very good instincts, an inexplicable habit of showing up near a certain banyan tree — has been researching a fifteenth-century court he can't explain his obsession with. What follows is a slow-burn modern romance about two people who keep finding each other — and about what it takes to stop going through the motions and start actually living. What Grief Leaves Behind is a book about the long version of love. Not the moment of recognition. The years after. Featuring: magic that reaches across impossible distances, a historian with too many books and very good peripheral vision, a Khmer New Year celebration in the streets of Phnom Penh, and green mango with salt-chili-MSG consumed at a level that some would describe as a problem and Kolab would describe as enthusiasm. Book 2 of Moonlight Over Mekong series. *Content Note: This novel contains sensual and steamy romantic scenes intended for mature readers.