It’s funny how one innocent decision can ruin your life. For me it was letting my son pedal away on his bike that hot summer day. He’d been so excited to go out by himself—like a big boy. And though I was usually so protective, I let him…
When Carla returns to her father’s house to care for him in his final days, she feels lost and heartbroken. So she’s glad when she meets a kindly older woman named CeCe, and they develop a warm, natural friendship. CeCe understands loss too. Because nearly forty years before her only son disappeared without trace, from this same small town.
Then, sorting through her father’s house, Carla discovers a box of diaries and newspaper clippings from the year CeCe’s son went missing. Her father was barely more than a child himself at the time, but it’s clear the disappearance affected him strongly.
The whole town is haunted by the memory of that summer: of the boy who was never found. But as Carla delves further into her father’s past she realises he may actually have known more than he has ever said—and that perhaps the answers CeCe so desperately seeks have been hidden here in this house all along.
With her father now too ill to tell his story himself, will Carla be able to discover the truth about what happened to the child who vanished—and give CeCe the answers she’s been seeking for forty years?
A heart-wrenching and emotionally charged novel about small-town secrets and the price of facing up to the truth. Fans of Liane Moriarty, Nicole Trope and The Silent Daughter will be gripped from the very first page until the final, heart-stopping twist.
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Author Bio
Jennifer Harvey is a Scottish writer now living in Amsterdam.
Her short fiction has appeared in various publications in the US, Canada, and the UK and she has been shortlisted for the Bristol Prize, the Bridport Prize and placed third in the University of Sunderland Short Story Award. Her novels have been longlisted for the Bath Novel Award and her radio dramas have also won prizes and commendations from the BBC World Service.
Alongside writing, she is a Resident Reader for Carve Magazine, an editor for Carve Critiques, and serves as a member of the Editorial Board for Ellipsis Magazine. When not writing, she can be found sauntering along the Amsterdam canals, dreaming up new stories.
First, I want to thank Jennifer Harvey, Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with this book so I may bring you this review.
Jennifer Harvey’s The Vanishing Child has a very creative storyline that is very different from any other missing person cases I have read before.
I enjoyed reading Jennifer’s acknowledgements on how she dealt with writing this book during the pandemic.
Family is one major topic in The Vanishing Child. Between estranged relationships, rekindling relationships, trying to put the past behind them when only more secrets pop up.
I loved how Jennifer built up the suspense as to why the family didn't have contact with their father. The way she drew it out at times I kept yelling at my kindle to tell me already!! There was so much sadness and fear within that storyline alone.
Jennifer jumps from the past to the present to give you an inside look of the father in his younger age. You think you know someone but you have really no idea who they are!
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