Margaret Hutton – If You Leave

With the intrusive, catalytic forces of two wars, World War II and Vietnam, Margaret Hutton’s debut novel, If You Leave, tells of two women who mother one baby girl into her own young womanhood. Each of the three discovers the strength of herself as an individual as well as the strength of unity. Thus does this quietly vibrant story illustrate the way one life impacts others, decisions made either quickly or slowly can have similarly devastating consequences, and the need of the human heart for love competes with the need to find meaning.

Margaret Hutton’s short fiction has appeared in numerous journals and magazines, including The Sun, The South Carolina Review, The Chattahoochee Review, the Antioch Review, and Abundant Grace. She earned an undergraduate degree with honors from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MFA from George Mason University. She is a native of North Carolina and formerly was an environmental reporter. She divides her time between Washington, DC, and her art studio in Chester County, PA. If You Leave was published by Regal House Publishing and is available wherever books are sold.

Hosted by William Miller

---

Key Takeaways

1. War as a Turning Point for Women
2. If You Leave examines how World War II and Vietnam temporarily expanded women’s independence and opportunity—while exposing how fragile those gains could be.
3. Art, Agency, and Interruption
4. Through Audrey’s life as a painter, the novel explores how women’s creative ambitions are often disrupted, underestimated, or constrained by social expectations.
5. The Power and Cost of Leaving
6. Every major character is shaped by acts of leaving—home, relationships, or identity—revealing how personal choices ripple across generations.
7. Interiority and Empathy in Fiction
8. Margaret highlights fiction’s ability to reveal inner lives, inviting readers to understand characters beyond surface-level judgment.

“The novel gives us access to another person’s interior life—and that’s something we never fully have in real life.” - Margaret Hutton

#LiteraryFiction

#HistoricalFiction

#WomenWriters

Find out more about Margaret Hutton on her website.

Purchase her book here.

Follow her on Instagram.

---

Be sure to check out our website for more information about our hosts, guests, and ways you can support the show: UpstartCrow.org

Follow us on Facebook here.

Thank you for listening to Upstart Crow, a part of Watershed Lit Radio.

© 2026 Upstart Crow Podcast – All Rights Reserved

Recorded & Produced by Jon D PodCom