The beginning of this book is extraordinary. We are pitched straight into the fragile mind of Maud who is in her eighties and suffering from dementia. Author Emma Healey has the audacity to make Maud our unreliable narrator, so we understand her short term memory loss and the utter frustration to everyone connected with her. However, we are saved from an increasingly difficult read as Maud's condition deteriorates by situations in the present that trigger a memory of her teenage years. Here Maud is at her lucid best as she recalls in great detail what happened when her elder sister disappeared. The contrast to her present state is a very simple but clever device. Here the elderly Maud is obsessed by the disappearance of her friend Elizabeth, but is it all in her mind? I enjoyed the clever construction of the story more than the actual writing. But to be inside the mind of Maud is an unsettling but unforgettable experience.
1 comment:
Whilst looking for a book club to join in Tring, I cam upon your blog. Can you give me any information about the club or who to contact. Many thanks,
Helen24@talktalk.net
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