Elizabeth is Missing (Paperback)
Emma Healey (author)Published: 01/01/2015
One of the most distinctive and best-loved debuts of the last decade, Elizabeth is Missing was an instant favourite with Waterstones booksellers, who chose it for our Book Club in 2014. Combining pitch-perfect storytelling with a tender, unflinching portrait of life with dementia, Emma Healey breathes new life into the whodunit formula for a novel that is as surprising, moving and wryly funny as it is impossible to put down.
Now a major BBC TV Series starring Glenda Jackson
A Sunday Times Top Five Bestseller and chosen for the Waterstones Book Club 2014, Elizabeth is Missing is the stunning debut novel from author Emma Healey.
An ancient noise, like a fox bark, makes an attempt at the edges of my brain. “Elizabeth?” I ask…
Meet Maud. 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…
The subject of a bidding war between nine publishers, Emma Healey’s debut novel became one of the most talked-about books of 2014. Described by the Independent as ‘an extraordinary tale of ordinary tragedy’ Elizabeth is Missing is a compelling mystery which – through its depiction of its confused 90 year old narrator Maud – walks sensitively through new imaginative territory. A moving, intriguing journey following the breadcrumbs of the past, it will keep you glued to every page.
Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2014
Shortlisted for National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book 2014
Shortlisted for National Book Awards New Writer of the Year 2014
Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2014
Longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction 2015
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
ISBN: 9780241968185
Number of pages: 304
Weight: 213 g
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 18 mm
MEDIA REVIEWS
'A compelling mystery that capture the experience of Maud, a highly memorable elderly woman losing her memory' - Sunday Express
'Riveting psychological thriller' - Stylist's Best Books of 2014
'A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel, I read it at a gulp' - Deborah Moggach
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“I kept putting it down”
I really did not enjoy this book and have been struggling with it for more than six weeks, which is unheard of for me. It is well written, but disturbing and made me feel miserable. I have only 20 pages or so to... More
“An accomplished debut novel. Emma Healey is a talented author who writes beautifully, with conviction.”
Maud is 82 years old. She often feels confused, she writes herself notes and remembers to go the shop most days. Maud sometimes doesn't remember what the notes mean. Maud continues to buy tinned peaches, despite... More
“Great book for everyone”
Maud is very forgetful and she gets worse as time goes along but she knows her friend Elizabeth is missing and cannot understand why no-one else will take her seriously. I started this book thinking it was a... More
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