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Elizabeth is missing
by Healey, Emma
- Used
- Hardcover
- Condition
- See description
- ISBN 10
- 0241003504
- ISBN 13
- 9780241003503
- Seller
-
Galway, Ireland
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London : Vikiing, 2014. 6th Edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description: 274 pages ; 20cm. Subjects: Missing persons ; Fiction.
Synopsis
EMMA HEALEY grew up and still lives in London where she completed her first degree in bookbinding (learning how to put books together but not how to write them), which she followed with an MA in Creative Writing in 2011. Elizabeth Is Missing is her first novel. The author lives in London, England.
Reviews
On Feb 28 2015, CloggieDownunder said:
“…I remember the town being almost too bright to look at when I was a girl. I remember the deep blue of the sky and the dark green of the pines cutting through it, the bright red of the local brick houses and the orange carpet of pine needles under our feet. Nowadays – though I’m sure the sky is still occasionally blue and most houses are still there, and the trees still drop their needles – nowadays, the colours seem faded, as if I live in an old photograph.”
Elizabeth Is Missing is the first novel by British author, Emma Healey. Eighty-two-year-old Maud Horsham is demented. She lives in her own home, has a carer coming daily to help out, and gets regular visits from her daughter Helen. And she is fairly certain that her best friend, Elizabeth is missing. Elizabeth is not at home (Maud has checked) and she feels that Elizabeth’s unfriendly son, Peter Markham is sure to be behind it. Maud finds it frustrating how unconcerned both Helen and the Police are about her disappearance.
While she still has lucid moments, Maud’s mental state ensures that generally her narrative of the present-day is unreliable. But the people and things that fill her day remind her of a time, almost seventy years ago, when she was fourteen and her older, married sister, Susan went missing. After dinner with her family, Sukey disappeared almost without a trace. Did she just run off, as many people just after the war did? Or did her jealous husband, Frank, or the family’s lodger, Doug, have something to do with it? Or was she a victim of the Grosvenor Hotel murderer? Maud’s memories of this time are crystal clear.
While this is a mystery that builds quite gradually, and it is perhaps not the mystery that the reader first expects (Elizabeth’s location is no real surprise), patience is rewarded as the pieces fall into place. Healey expertly segues present triggers into memories of the past, and despite her youth, shows an amazing insight into the world of the elderly and the demented. As anyone with a demented relative or friend will agree, there are times when the best reaction is to laugh, the alternative being to cry, and Healey portrays these moments with consummate ease. This is not a book for everyone: some readers may find it strikes a little too close to home. Perceptive, blackly funny and often frighteningly realistic, this is a brilliant debut novel.
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Details
- Bookseller
- MW Books Ltd.
(IE)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 304449
- Title
- Elizabeth is missing
- Author
- Healey, Emma
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- 6th Edition
- ISBN 10
- 0241003504
- ISBN 13
- 9780241003503
- Publisher
- London : Vikiing
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 2014
Terms of Sale
MW Books Ltd.
Returns accepted within 10 days of receipt if you are unsatisfied with either our description of, or the book itself.
About the Seller
MW Books Ltd.
Biblio member since 2005
Galway
About MW Books Ltd.
MW Books is an academic and antiquarian bookshop with a large stock in core areas such as Early Travel & Exploration, Nineteenth Century Literature, Early Political Economy, Labour and Social History, and Asian and Colonial History. Please don't hesitate to contact us with your questions or comments regarding any item listed.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- Tight
- Used to mean that the binding of a book has not been overly loosened by frequent use.
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...