Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of kidnapping, trauma, death, and child death.

The Leaving is built on a foundation of betrayal that begins with the novel’s backstory and continues through its final chapters. Those abducted and several characters close to them are consistently subjected to treachery and disloyalty from people they should be able to trust. Through their experiences, the novel explores how the tension between trust and betrayal impacts relationships.

Lucas experiences betrayal by several people he should be able to trust, causing him to doubt himself and his judgment. Some of these betrayals are perpetrated by those he should be able to trust the most: the other abducted children. Scarlett suggests she may have cheated on Lucas with Adam in the past, while Adam refuses to contribute any helpful memories, hampering Lucas’s attempt to clear his name of a murder charge. These betrayals of trust happen even closer to home when Ryan’s girlfriend Miranda reveals herself to be Lola Immerso, the daughter of the experiment’s architect, who enters his home and his family under false pretenses to observe Lucas. The loss of trust resulting from these betrayals complicates Lucas’s path forward and decision-making acumen, causing Lucas to doubt even himself; as he reflects, his faulty memory and suspicions that he was a “jealous and angry” person make his

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