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Elizabeth Is Missing

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Elizabeth Is Missing

By: Emma Healey
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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About this listen

NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BEST SELLER

How do you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues?

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....

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award

Shortlisted for National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book

Shortlisted for National Book Awards New Writer of the Year

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize

Longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction

©2014 Emma Healey (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd Amateur Sleuths Detective Mystery Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Heartfelt Tear-jerking

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Editor reviews

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2014,

Elizabeth is Missing is the debut novel written by Emma Healey and is an unabridged mystery audiobook expertly narrated by Anna Bentinck. Audible listeners follow the story of forgetful Maud, who obsesses over finding her missing friend, Elizabeth. It’s a daunting task to search for clues and then forgetting them as soon as they are found. With her memory failing she must rely only on her intuition. It’s never led her off track in the past.... Or has it? A lighthearted and absorbing listen.

Critic reviews

"A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel." (Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

"Elizabeth Is Missing will stir and shake you: the most likeably unreliable of narrators, real mystery at its compassionate core...." (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)

"Resembling a version of Memento written by Alan Bennett." (Daily Telegraph)
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I had thought this would be a thriller with a twist, but instead it's a sad insight into the decline into dementia. Incredibly well portrayed by the narrator and cleverly expressed by the author. There is a mystery at the centre of the book but it is a sideline to the struggle Maud has in her daily life. Not gripping, but definitely thought provoking.

Not as anticipated but...

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this was a very poignant story told from the POV of an elderly lady with dementia. the way the author described the condition was really enlightening as I have very little knowledge of it and it opened my eyes as to how sufferers must feel. heartbreaking to listen to in parts, this is a wonderful book.

a very poignant tale

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quirky idea, not quite sure what kept me listening as really, slow moving but exceptionally performed. very insightful & some beautifully written sections

charming but strange & unusual narrative

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It was a very interesting book to read and it made you think what it's like for a person with dementia.

Elizabeth is Missing

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Loved this book so much have ordered a paper copy just to keep would highly recommend this book to anyone

Fabuloud

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Would you try another book written by Emma Healey or narrated by Anna Bentinck?

Anna Bentinck definitely. Such depth to her characters. Carried both genders superbly across different ages and time gaps,

Would you be willing to try another book from Emma Healey? Why or why not?

Not sure. The issue of dementia is too close to home for me, and I found listening to the story upsetting on occasion.

Which character – as performed by Anna Bentinck – was your favourite?

Maud, in spite of my comments above.

Could you see Elizabeth Is Missing being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Possibly as a TV series. Maud should be played by Anne Reid from Last Tango in Halifax

Think before you buy, it is upsetting

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Really well told story that seems quite simple to begin with but just gets more and more engrossing as you go. The reader did an excellent job which - considering how this book is constructed - I imagine was very difficult.

Brilliant story and really well told

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good concept, but struggled in places, enjoyed the book, but not one I will read again

interesting

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You need to have time to follow this properly but it is worth the effort.

A captivating insight into Alzheimers

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I enjoyed how this audiobook was read: the performance is excellent. Bentinck does an exceptional job, and I enjoyed how she changed her voice for the sections dealing with the past and then again for the present. The only gripe I’d mention is that at times she reads VERY quietly, which may be followed by a line read VERY loudly. This doesn’t happen constantly, but it is enough that I noticed. The net result is that if you’re trying to listen somewhere with background noise you may find yourself turning the volume up to hear some of the lines (that are almost inaudible in non-silent settings) only for the next line to be much louder, which in turn feels like it’s blasting out your eardrums. This happened a few times when I was vacuuming and listening at the same time. It’s not enough to ruin the experience by any means, but it’s good to be aware of it.

The story itself was quite enjoyable too. I found Maud a very poignant character. Not only is she surrounded by a mystery or two in the real world but also by the increasing mysteries created by her failing memory. The story is well written, and it’s hard not to connect with Maud’s fears and frustrations, trying to make sense of life as it, as far as she’s aware, shifts fluidly around her, constantly shrinking as her condition steadily worsens. This was a very different kind of mystery and, in my opinion, a pleasant change from the norm.

Well performed!

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