Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey

Maud is getting more and more forgetful, so much so that she has to write notes to remind herself of things. She often finds bits of paper with "Elizabeth is missing" written in her handwriting, but what has happened to Elizabeth?  Maud is determined to find out. Her thoughts often drift back to just after the end of World War II, a time when her older married sister Sukey disappeared without a trace. She was never found and what happened to her still remains a mystery seventy years on.

I loved the narration of this story told from Maud's point of view and it was unlike anything else I've read before. Her memory gradually gets worse throughout the book and the author gets across very well what it must be like for someone with dementia or alzheimer's, as well as their relatives. Maud's daughter Helen is very patient with her but you can feel her frustration at having to explain and answer the same questions over and over again. This book isn't published until June and I can't see it being anything other than a bestseller.

 

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Rating: 4 out of 5


Publication date: 5th June 2014 by Penguin

Book Blurb:

'Elizabeth is missing' reads the note in Maud's pocket in her own handwriting, and the one on the wall.

Maud's been getting forgetful. She keeps buying peach slices when she has a cupboard full, forgets to drink the cups of tea she's made and writes notes to remind herself of things. But Maud is determined to discover what has happened to her friend, Elizabeth, and what it has to do with the unsolved disappearance of her sister Sukey, years back, just after the war.