This is an incredible book, made even more so when you realise that when Emily wrote it she had no direct experience of Dementia in her network and therefore put her own perspective on what it must be like and really brought to life what that can look like for someone. It was empathetic yet realistic, as a reader you couldn’t help but root for Edie Green both in her childhood and older age.
It was incredibly insightful and emotional with an underlying mystery told through a dual timeline. It spans genres really, with mystery, contemporary and historical fiction elements throughout. It was a brilliant book club discussion choice too with lots of different take-aways from the novel.
It’s a comparable title to Elizabeth is Missing and Tiny Pieces of Enid – but has its own characterisation and storyline that makes it unique. A must read for fans of this genre and storyline.
About the Book
It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother – who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community – she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.
When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .
Then Lucy goes missing.
2018. Edie is eighty-four and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There’s a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago . . .
About The Author
One Puzzling Afternoon was selected as Indie Book of the Month and named a must-read by People Magazine.
Notes on My Family, Emily’s debut YA/crossover novel, was long-listed for the Branford Boase award, shortlisted for the Bristol Teen Book Award, nominated for the Carnegie medal and featured as The Sunday Times book of the week. Emily is also the author of The Tiny Gestures of Small Flowers. Her short story Glass appears in the collection Same Same but Different. She has written a book for children: The Bear Who Sailed the Ocean on an Iceberg.
Emily studied at London Metropolitan University where she won the 2014 Sandra Ashman prize for Creative Writing. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London.
Purchase the Book
This book can be purchased in our store either on its own or in a cosy Book Box.
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