A Good Read

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

Maud is forgetful. Sometimes she doesn’t recognise her home, her daughter or her granddaughter. But there is one thing that Maud is sure of - she hasn’t seen her friend Elizabeth in a long time, and is  convinced she is missing, and no matter how many people tell her to stop going on about it, leave it alone, she is determined to get to the bottom of it. She writes notes for herself but often forgets why she has written them, except when she reads Elizabeth’s name. 

Maud struggles to make sense of the tangled memories locked in her damaged mind. But somewhere in that labyrinth is the answer to a 70 year old mystery. She has vivid flashbacks to her childhood days, her parents, their lodger, the mad woman, and, most important of all, the mystery surrounding the disappearance of her beloved sister Sukey.

I liked the two stories of past and present joining together.

I didn’t think the story could be maintained with Maud’s ramblings but it was easy to see the world through her eyes. It was frustrating in places when people dismissed Maud as making things up, and it was upsetting reading about life with dementia.

It’s very well written, gentle, harrowing, poignant and funny in equal parts.

The BBC did a very good adaptation of it. Glenda Jackson’s portrayal of Maud was excellent.

∼ Be safe and well ∼ 

Polly x