One Puzzling Afternoon

By: Emily Critchley

Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre

Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Perfect for listeners of Elizabeth is Missing with notes of The Maid comes a dual-timeline novel that balances heartfelt tenderness with a suspenseful mystery as elderly Edie Green uncovers the clues behind her best friend's disappearance before the truth is lost in her memory forever

I kept your secret Lucy. I've kept it for more than sixty years...

It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street, fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living with her eccentric mother and her mother's new boyfriend, she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life. So when the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. Even though Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep. Then Lucy goes missing.

Now in 2018, Edie is eighty-four and still living in the same small town, when one afternoon she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen. Her family write it off as one of her many mix ups, there's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. But Edie knows she's the key to finding Lucy. Time is running out and Edie must piece together the clues before Lucy is forgotten forever.

©2023 Emily Critchley (P)2023 Recorded Books

So very good.

One of the best I’ve listened to in a long time. There is a 15 word minimum.

Unique prospective

This was such a unique book, I may have to buy the book to go along with the audio. I won’t say spoil it for others. But this was truly one of the best stories I’ve ever heard

Memory and its importance. Women need to stand up for themselves. What a different time it was.

Lucy is not a nice person Poor Edie seems solely to focus on Lucy. Too much emphasis on Lucy and that took away from the story for me. Happy I completed the book because several times I was frustrated with the slow story line.

Unreliable narration done right

When Audible.com reveals their “Daily Deals,” the books are usually on sale for under $5.
Instead of being marked down because they are poorly written or performed, these books are often ones that have just missed their target audience, and they have been ignored.
Such is the case with a recent Audible “Daily Deal” titled “One Puzzling Afternoon.”
Written by Emily Critchley and released on Oct. 23, 2023, “One Puzzling Afternoon” is not the best title for the book, but other than that, everything else about it is solid.
The book is told between altering timelines in 1951 and 2018, and it focuses on the character Edie Green.
In 1951, Edie is a 15-year-old student living in small English town. She is something of an outcast at her school because her mother works as a psychic medium. Edie has no friends, and she often spends her time alone.
One afternoon, she returns to the school to pick up something she left behind only to witness the school’s most popular girl, Lucy Theddle, in an embrace with their married history teacher.
When Edie sees Lucy crying a few days later, she approaches her and tells her she knows her secret, and she swears never to tell, and she keeps her promise, even when Lucy goes missing and is never seen or heard from again.
In 2018, Edie is now in her 80s, and her mind seems to be on the decline. She often forgets things, including where she is and how she got there, but she is still living on her own.
One morning while going into town, Edie thinks she sees Lucy, who still looks like a young girl, but how can that be? Lucy has been missing for almost 70 years, and even if it was Lucy, how has she not aged a day?
Edie decides to figure out what happened to her friend all those years ago, and she is determined enough to succeed, if only she can remember what she is trying to do.
“One Puzzling Afternoon” is an enjoyable read. One of the things it does well is to use an unreliable narrator to reveal the story. Edie is not unreliable because she lies or is trying to mislead the reader; she suffers from memory problems, and her grasp on reality is faulty.
Emily Critchley presents the reader with a story that is quite engaging. So much so that it is hard to believe “One Puzzling Afternoon” was in the discount book bin.
Because this is an Audible book, it is worth noting that the narrator, Elizabeth Sastre, does an excellent job voicing the production.

Memory is the Diary

Brilliant betrayal of living with dementia…and with the fruits of our decisions. Thoroughly engaging.

Strange and riveting story

very well crafted mystery about one woman, as a 15 year old in 1951, and an octogenarian almost 70 years later. Impressive!

Such a poignant story

My mother had dementia and the book made me realize how it must have been for her. She has been gone for several year but I feel closer to her as I listened to the story. Thank you for this beautiful gift of a book.

Too depressing

This went on for too long. I also found it hard to believe she never told anyone what she knew.

Sad

Sad to me because I'm of that age and concerned with my own memory. Sad because dementia is just awful yet it was portrayed so well in this book. Sad because of feeling guilty for one's entire life for things one didn't do, for instance the death of Edie's father and Lucy. Sad to reach end of life still looking for something lost. That being said, I think the book was well-written and I enjoyed listening to it.

Poignant

This was beautiful and sad, lovely and ugly. It’s a great piece of storytelling. 4.5 stars