Meet Maud.

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 . . .

This was a lovely but sad story about Maud in two time frames, present day and war time or just post-war time, as rations were in full force but it seemed to be the aftermath of it all. Maud has dementia and struggles to remember anything but she has fragments of memories but she can't figure out or stay with these fragments to get the answers she knows she needs for SOMETHING. She half-believes her friend Elizabeth is missing and says it over and over but in her heart she knows this isn't quite right. In the 1940s part of the book we meet a young and fun Maud who lives with her parents and her older sister, Sukey, who is married and lives nearby but is often in her parents' house. Sukey goes missing and the family try to cope with the cataclysm that has shattered the whole family. Sukey and Maud's dad thinks Frank, Sukey's husband is behind her disappearance but Maud and her mother don't, and they like to talk about Frank when they are alone in the house. They have an odd lodger called Douglas who befriended Sukey before she went missing. Back to present day and Maud is mostly cared for by her daughter, Helen and repeats herself about where Elizabeth is, the best way to grow marrows and many other irrelevancies. I was pleased when Helen finally listened to/figured out what Maud's damaged mind was thinking/remembering and we got some closure, although Maud wouldn't have remembered the details for it to help her, I suppose, but it was a nice and touching read, and if you've had no experience of dementia (very lucky, if so!) this is an interesting read and shows you how the damaged mind works. What a fantastic debut book from Emma Healey. I look forward to her second book.

Taking along and adding to the book buffet at this year's BookCrossing Unconvention at Northampton/Duston at St Luke's Community Centre. Friday 11th - Sunday 13th October. Looking forward to catching up with everyone!

Picked up at the Northampton BookCrossing Unconvention.

On the nearby bench in front of the church.