Review: Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

Book: Elizabeth is Missing

Author: Emma Healey

Pages: 320 pages

I Read: The Kindle version

I Read it in: 3.5 hours (very gripping!)

Plot Summary: In this darkly riveting debut novel—a sophisticated psychological mystery that is also a heartbreakingly honest meditation on memory, identity, and aging—an elderly woman descending into dementia embarks on a desperate quest to find the best friend she believes has disappeared, and her search for the truth will go back decades and have shattering consequences.

Maud, an aging grandmother, is slowly losing her memory—and her grip on everyday life. Yet she refuses to forget her best friend Elizabeth, whom she is convinced is missing and in terrible danger.

But no one will listen to Maud—not her frustrated daughter, Helen, not her caretakers, not the police, and especially not Elizabeth's mercurial son, Peter. Armed with handwritten notes she leaves for herself and an overwhelming feeling that Elizabeth needs her help, Maud resolves to discover the truth and save her beloved friend.

This singular obsession forms a cornerstone of Maud's rapidly dissolving present. But the clues she discovers seem only to lead her deeper into her past, to another unsolved disappearance: her sister, Sukey, who vanished shortly after World War II.

As vivid memories of a tragedy that occurred more fifty years ago come flooding back, Maud discovers new momentum in her search for her friend. Could the mystery of Sukey's disappearance hold the key to finding Elizabeth?

Thoughts and Review: I LOVED this book! It is heart-breaking and beautifully written with a nicely done mystery at its core. Let's do a quick list:

1. Maud's gradual descent into dementia is so well captured. Her helplessness at not remember small things and just the sheer heartbreak of forgetting that a chair is called a chair and so on translated beautifully to the reader. I felt every bit of Maud's helplessness and frustration. 

2. So, obviously, the writing is brilliant. The style, the pace and the taut storyline were all perfect- there was nothing superfluous in this book and every page was worth reading. 

3. Maud is a lovely, lovely character. We get to look into her past- when she was 15 and her sister went missing- and we get to see her at 82. Her determination, resilience and strength are extremely endearing. She does not give up when she thinks something untoward has happened to her best friend, Elizabeth, and she had not given up when her sister- Sukey- had gone missing in 1946. 

4. The book moves between 82 year old, present day Maud trying to remind herself to find Elizabeth and the events leading up to and after the disappearance of Sukey in 1946. Interestingly, both stories are inter-linked and as Maud tries to resolve the mystery of Elizabeth's disappearance, she also starts unraveling the mystery of Sukey's disappearance. 

5. The characters are very well etched out- Maud's daughter- Helen- patient, long suffering but never really gives up on her mother. Maud's parents, their lodger- Douglas-, Sukey and Sukey's husband- Frank. There are no non-essential characters. Even the 'mad woman' who keeps showing up in 1946 has a strong purpose in the story. 

6. Maud's "investigation"- both at 15 and 82- was interesting and very real. There were no random shenanigans and she operated within what anyone could do realistically as a young girl in the 1940s and as an old woman battling dementia. I loved how real Maud was and how real her pain and frustrations were. 

7. The unraveling of the mystery behind Sukey's disappearance was very nicely done. I loved how different pieces of the puzzle came together so beautifully in the end. 

Rating: 5/5 

This is an amazing book! It will move you, break your heart yet fill you with hope because if you set your mind to do something- even if you are losing your mind- you can do it! Read this book!