Elizabeth Is Missing
“A compelling read, Elizabeth Is Missing offers added depth of mystery and suspense along with aptly portraying a family trying to cope with illness.”
How confusing and frustrating to realize your mind is failing and headed toward dementia. This is what is happening to the elderly Maud Horsham. She lives alone in England, though due to her decline, her daughter and caregivers assist her daily.
Maud's forgetfulness has her writing notes to keep track of things she needs to do or of thoughts going through her head. Her current concern is for her friend Elizabeth Markham whom she believes is lost and in danger.
Many times Maud sneaks out to search for Elizabeth, arriving at her vacant home. She discloses her worries to Elizabeth's son Peter, but he doesn't help and gets annoyed with her meddling. Maud insists something is wrong, but no one will believe or listen to her.
Throughout Maud's searches, she recalls her past when her older married sister Sukey went missing not long after World War II. A teen at the time, Maud has agonized over Sukey since, and she considers Sukey's disappearance tantamount to Elizabeth’s.
Believing Elizabeth vanished the same as her sister and determined to locate her friend, Maud places ads in the local paper, but the two incidences jumble her mind and cause frustration. Meanwhile, her daughter and Peter become exasperated and furious, condescending to her due to her illness.
Written in the first person, Elizabeth Is Missing highlights Maud's confusion, especially as seen in the following paragraph:
"No, that's a jumble, but I can't work out where I've gone wrong. There's a ribbon by my feet. A green, checked ribbon. It could be Sukey's. The ends are fayed and the silk is stained and grubby, but I wind id carefully round my finger as I walk along. My pocket's full of something. Seeds of some kind. I must have brought them for a snack. I pop one in my mouth, but it doesn't taste quite right and I spit it out."
Ms. Healy aptly portrays the vagaries of dementia. The thoughts in Maud's mind are enough to confuse the reader to suffer the angst along with her.
Throughout the novel, flashbacks portray the intense clarity of the long ago era.
The switches between years complicate the backstory integrated within, but add to the scenario playing in Maud's memory. Her recollections of Sukey and her husband tell a whole other story, fitting well with Maud's current experiences.
Some of her musings and memories help answer many questions of long held traumas. Might Maud's obsessions contain credible facts, and will she find Elizabeth or learn the answers to Sukey's disappearance?
This tale delves into the mystery of the mind, giving a concise portrayal of how the sufferer feels, helping to define this condition if for nothing else than to make others empathetic. A compelling read, Elizabeth Is Missing offers added depth of mystery and suspense along with aptly portraying a family trying to cope with illness.