The Left-Behind Child (in person)
21 Oct 2026, 18:00 - 20:00
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Join Nurse and poet Romalyn Ante as she reads from her first novel, The Left-Behind Child.
Lipa, Philippines, 2001. Neneng is 11 when her mother, Rosa, leaves to work as a nurse overseas: abandoning Neneng to care for a distant father, unsettled relatives and rebellious siblings. Their home shatters, and Neneng finds herself facing womanhood alone. From that point on, she vows never to become a nurse, and never to trust her mother again.
But Neneng is more like the strong-minded Rosa than she realises. As Neneng fights to survive and build a new life, the darknesses in the family’s past come to light, and the reasons why Rosa needed to leave become clearer. When a twist of fate brings a new mother figure into her orbit, Neneng will come to understand why the profession of nursing matters so deeply to Rosa and – when crisis strikes – what ‘care’ means to Neneng.
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RCN Library and Museum
rcn.library@rcn.org.uk
0345 337 3368
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Page last updated - 05/08/2026
