Then She Was Gone - Lisa Jewell

Description

She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. 
She had her whole life ahead of her. 
And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

Ten years on, Laurel has never given up hope of finding Ellie. And then she meets a charming and charismatic stranger who sweeps her off her feet.

But what really takes her breath away is when she meets his nine-year-old daughter.

Because his daughter is the image of Ellie.

Now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What really happened to Ellie? And who still has secrets to hide?

Review

This is one of those books that when you finish reading it you keep thinking about it and wanting to read more, but then recalling that you finished it lol! I raced through this book, desperate for time to get to read it, wondering when I would be able to fit in some more pages, it really was that good.

The book begins with Laurel narrating - she has arrived at her daughters flat with no sign of her having been home. Her mind begins racing and we find that 10 years before her other daughter disappeared and has never been found.

We then get Ellie narrating the time line before she went missing - her life, what she was up to as a teenage girl. The book then continues with a flip flop of the story mainly from Laurel's viewpoint in the present day,  and her first foray into a romance since Ellie disappeared.

Her romantic encounter introduces her to the man's daughter, a young girl who looks like Ellie. After this point I began to feel like I had in my hand one of those magic squares with a tile missing. Somehow I felt I should know the answer to what was happening, but it was just out of my grasp, however what followed was a real roller coaster I needed to stay on until I got to the end.

A couple of other characters narrate the story towards the end and so you get a feel of the story from different perspectives which I found really interesting. There are a few loose ends which are maybe too neatly tied off at the end of the book, but I could live with that. The very end of the book is rather moving and not what I was expecting.

I loved the accessible writing - so easy to read and felt so real and earthy. I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars. I have never read a Lisa Jewell book before but I think I need to read more now.

My thanks to Netgalley for a ARC to review.