When She Comes Back

By: Ronit Plank

Narrated by: Ronit Plank

Abandoned by her mother...

Ronit was six years old when her mother left her and her four-year-old sister for India to follow a cult guru. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, whose commune was responsible for the largest biological attack on US soil, preached that children were hindrances and encouraged sterilizations among his followers. Luckily Ronit's father, who'd left the family the previous year, stepped up and brought the girls to live with him first in Newark, New Jersey, and later in Flushing, Queens. On the surface, his nurturing was the balm Ronit sought, but she soon paid a second emotional price, taking on the role of partner and confidant to him, and substitute mother to her sister. By the end of her childhood, Ronit would discover she had lost her mother and the close and trusting relationship she once had with her father. Though they have had a relationship now for years, she grappled with the toll her mother's leaving took, measuring her self-worth by her absence.

When She Comes Back is the story of a family trying to find itself, grownups who don't know how to be adults, and the pain a child feels when she discovers that her love for her mother is not enough to make that parent stay. When She Comes Back is also a story of resilience and reconciliation, how rejection by the most important person in Ronit's life ultimately led to an unflagging commitment to, and love for her own children.

©2021 Ronit Plank (P)2021 Ronit Plank

Fantastic Memoir

I love this memoir. I didn’t think I could ever binge an audible book. The narration by the author is beautiful. I could hear her pain, love and strength in her voice as she tells her incredible story.

Kibbutzim, Cults, & Ashrams, oh my!

This was the perfect road trip book for my drive from Central Oregon to Seattle. The narrator/author does an excellent job of inhabiting her younger self and her puzzling childhood. When her mostly absent mother who’s own search for identity takes her to India and later to the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s Oregon compound, Ronit is left to puzzle with why she wasn’t enough (or perhaps too much) for her mother to stay. Ronit and her younger sister are left to be raised by her father, who ironically had deserted her first. Her story is a fascinating study in how children adapt when the adults in their lives behave poorly. I finished this audiobook just as I rounded the corner to take in the Seattle skyline and it reminded me there is more than one way to go home. If you were a fan of the Docuseries Wild, Wild, Country this book adds another layer to the story.

Surprising Gem of a Memoir

Ronit Plank has the amazing ability to recall her childhood memories and illustrate them in such a way that we can all reminisce at how we used to view the world as children. Although the topic of a mother leaving her children to join a cult seems disturbing, Ronit managed to tell her story with love, optimism and understanding. It's a pretty quick "read" because it was hard to put down.
Her reading of her own memoir was very well done. You can understand why she was successful at acting in high school :-)

Memorable and Inspiring

I didn't want the book to end. The subject is intriguing because we rarely get an inside glimpse into cults from a family member. What was inspiring was the way the listener is pulled into the life of a young girl as seen through her eyes as she grows up waiting for her mother to return home and be present in her life. I found the book very inspiring and having the author narrate the book brought us an even more personal perspective. The details and brutal honesty brought such authenticity.

Engaging coming of age story with heartache

I really enjoyed this audiobook. Ronit Plank did an amazing job both writing the book and narrating. At times I ached for little Ronit, at other times I felt the intense love and longing for a mother out of reach. Spread across a variety of settings—a kibbutz in Israel, California, New Jersey, and Queens—the narrative holds nostalgia in places and time. You can’t help but love this narrator and feel her pains and joys.

Worth the listen

A worthwhile read for every parent considering divorce. Open and honest writing. The final conversation with her mom made the book for me. It’s so rare to get the answers one longs for in relationships.