Elizabeth is Missing

LoveReading Says

Runner-up for the Betty Trask Award 2015.

One of the Top 10 Lovereading Reader Review Panel Summer Read selections.

Eighty-something Maud is getting forgetful and so writes notes to herself.  ‘Elizabeth is missing’ is one such note which Maud then becomes obsessed with for Elizabeth is indeed missing.  She tells her daughter, the police, anyone who will listen.  Maud is suffering from dementia which gets gradually worse throughout the book.  Her daughter has to eventually take her in … and still, for Maud at least, Elizabeth is missing.  For us, the reader too, only we do discover why.  Slowly we get Maud’s back story and a strange mystery about her sister and her very dodgy husband.  All becomes clear in a startling conclusion. The stages of dementia are thoroughly explored in a thoughtful, impressive manner.  A fascinating debut. ~ Sarah Broadhurst

Shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2015.

Longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2015.

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2014.

The Costa Judges said Healey's book was “Utterly captivating and original.”

One of our Books of the Year 2014. 

One of the Top 10 books in the Lovereading Readers’ Choice Book of the Year 2014.

Reviewed by Sarah Broadhurst
Sarah Broadhurst spent her early working life in the book trade in both retail and wholesale until the arrival of children forced her to look for freelance work she could do from…
More reviews by Sarah Broadhurst

About Elizabeth is Missing

Elizabeth is Missing, Emma Healey's debut novel, introduces a mystery, an unsolved crime and one of the most unforgettable characters since Mark Haddon's Christopher. Meet Maud ...'Elizabeth is missing', reads the note in Maud's pocket in her own handwriting. Lately, Maud's been getting forgetful.

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