Elizabeth Is Missing

De: Emma Healey

Narrado por: Anna Bentinck

NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BEST SELLER

How do you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues?

Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger. But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it. Because somewhere in Maud's damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about. Everyone, except Maud....

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award

Shortlisted for National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book

Shortlisted for National Book Awards New Writer of the Year

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize

Longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction

©2014 Emma Healey (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel." (Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

"Elizabeth Is Missing will stir and shake you: the most likeably unreliable of narrators, real mystery at its compassionate core...." (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)

"Resembling a version of Memento written by Alan Bennett." (Daily Telegraph)

Relentless, Poignant and Incredibly Insightful

If you require a clear narrative in your detective fiction, you will not like this. The POV of a woman suffering from dementia makes it a very compelling and radically different type of storytelling. But I loved it. I fell in love with the character. My heart went out to her, and Anna Bentinck's narration was superb.

Beyond simply being a very innovative approach to narrative, it really gave me a perspective on people suffering from dementia. I'm never going to cluck my tongue at my mother again.

Excellent read

Voice acting was superb. The story kept me hooked on. Simply loved it! Recommend reading it!

Fantastic Book! I loved every minute of it.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I have recommended this book to several of my friends and family.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Well, Maud of course, but also the granddaughter who was so kind to her when everyone else was treating her like a silly old woman. She didn't assume that Maud had lost her sense of humour just because she was old.

Which character – as performed by Anna Bentinck – was your favorite?

All of them! They were all well rounded characters and either lovable or loath-able (is that even a word?) The range of 'Maud voices' was very well done and gave great depth to the story.

Who was the most memorable character of Elizabeth Is Missing and why?

Maud, Helen and Peter - was that man annoying or what! Such a pompous windbag - I wanted to give him a good slap!

Any additional comments?

The only thing that I kept on thinking was, why didn't Maud make a note of Elizabeth's whereabouts once she knew of them? She wrote everything else she wanted to remember down, but not that most important thing ... but then, there wouldn't have been this wonderful story.

Outstanding

This work is above all admirable, coming from such a joung writer; not just her sympathy, which makes the novel so poignant, but the way she manages to connect past and future into a personal story that is absolutely plausible.

Insightful, sensitive, intriguing

As the daughter of a 91 year-old widow who still thinks her mind is sharp as a tack, I found this book particularly poignant. The author shows great insight into the mind of her heroine, its intertwining of past and present and the confusion of drifting between the two. The portrayal is sensitive and sympathetic, suggesting familiarity with the problems of encroaching dementia. The interwoven story of Maud's youth and the mystery which has left its mark on her emotions is wonderfully told and delightfully connected with her perceptions of the present day. Her distress at being unable to find her only friend, so important to older people who have lost just about everyone else in their lives, is very real. The conclusion to the mystery is a wonderful culmination to the book, which can have no happy endings. I enjoyed the way details of present objects led to recollections of the past and connected the two stories together.
The narration of this book was particularly outstanding. Anna Bentinck gave every character their own, recognisable voice and her portrayal of Maud, the central character, was sensitive and appropriate. I really enjoyed this book and would look for others by the author and narrator.

gut wrenching

one of the best books I have read. really puts you in the world of a demented old lady. I now have a greater understanding of where their world is and a fascinating whodunnit to boot