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Lena
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Narrator: Rebecca H. Lee
Unabridged: 2 hr 48 min
Format: Digital Audiobook Download
Publisher: Listening Library
Published: 05/26/2026
Categories: Young Adult Fiction, African American & Black Fiction, Social Themes
Synopsis
In the companion to the Coretta Scott King Honor-winning I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, Lena finally reveals what happened to the two girls who set out into the world, searching for a place to belong and the home they deserve.
“Soulful, wise, and sometimes wrenching, this taut story never loses its grip on the reader.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Once again, Woodson writes with excruciating clarity . . . and leaves readers encouraged by humanity’s potential for insight, compassion, and hope.”—School Library Journal
At the end of I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This, Marie’s friend Lena and her little sister Dion run away to escape their abusive father, leaving Marie full of longing and readers full of questions. Now those questions are answered.
For years, Lena silently endured abuse at the hands of her father. But when he starts showing interest in her younger sister, Dion, she knows they have to get away. So one night they set out, disguised as boys, in search of their mother’s relatives. They don’t know what they’ll find when they get there, and they don’t know who to trust along the way; but they do know that somehow they’ve got to find a place that they can call home.
“Soulful, wise, and sometimes wrenching, this taut story never loses its grip on the reader.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Once again, Woodson writes with excruciating clarity . . . and leaves readers encouraged by humanity’s potential for insight, compassion, and hope.”—School Library Journal
At the end of I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This, Marie’s friend Lena and her little sister Dion run away to escape their abusive father, leaving Marie full of longing and readers full of questions. Now those questions are answered.
For years, Lena silently endured abuse at the hands of her father. But when he starts showing interest in her younger sister, Dion, she knows they have to get away. So one night they set out, disguised as boys, in search of their mother’s relatives. They don’t know what they’ll find when they get there, and they don’t know who to trust along the way; but they do know that somehow they’ve got to find a place that they can call home.