Parents' Guide to The Leaving Room

THE LEAVING ROOM is a place children under 17 phase through after death. Gospel is a Keeper, someone who's charged with helping them make that passage. Her Leaving Room has no windows or doors, but she's made it as welcoming as possible for the young Leavers, with paintings on the wall and "dessert, moonsets & warm blankets." Gospel collects memories from the air as the Leavers speak, as Leavers can't take memories with them. The memories harden over the years and turn into marbles she stores in Memory Jars on her bookshelves. When Gospel begins to hear music, she can't imagine where it might be coming from. Then a glittering emerald green door appears and Gospel walks through it into the room of a girl named Melodee, who plays a black and gold violin. Melodee's a Keeper, but unlike Gospel, she's been given a way to leave her room. But only if she can complete everything on a list she's been given—including perfectly performing a symphony. Gospel and Melodee decide to combine their two rooms (very much against the rules) and begin a sweet and tentative romance. Then Gospel wakes one day to find the seams between their rooms have closed and she's alone. Her Memory Jars begin to fall to the floor and shatter. Only one remains and when she opens it, she remembers.