Page 10 - JUNE2024

Page 10 NEWFOUNDLAKELIFE.COM June 2024
By BRittany amalfi
I have to say, I have definitely been into mysteries and thrillers lately. Having taken a break from The Naturals series, I decided to step into yet another mystery. A mystery that certainly had me guessing throughout the entire book. Ever since Laurel’s daugh- ter, Ellie, disappeared ten years ago, Laurel’s life has never been the same. Living through every parent’s worst nightmare, Laurel doesn’t know whether to give up looking for Ellie or to move on with her life. She thinks a new
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Book of the Month: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
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door opens when she meets a handsome, charismatic stranger in a coffee shop one day, but when she meets his nine-year- old daughter, who is the spitting image of Ellie, Laurel begins to think that another door never closed.
As I read through this story, I will say that it became a bit predictable at a certain point. However, this book was excep- tionally well written and, with- out a doubt, entertaining. I’ve always admired authors who dive into the raw, unfiltered lives of people living through tragedy to really get inside the characters' minds. Jewell did a fantastic job of getting me not only in Lau- rel’s head but also Ellie and a few other characters, which put a twist on the story.
Floyd, the charismatic stranger Laurel meets in the coffee shop, seems almost too perfect. But what’s a mystery without a handsome stranger?
The real mystery, though, is his daughter, Poppy. For a nine-year- old, she is beyond her years with
reading about Laurel and Pop- py’s budding relationship as she got closer to Floyd. But Laurel
just can’t shake the feel- ing that something else is going on, and she soon becomes determined to figure it out.
The family dynamic in Then She Was Gone was also a big part of the story. Ellie was not Laurel’s only child. In fact, Laurel had two other children. After Ellie disappeared, the family was never the same. Laurel and her hus- band divorced, her older son moved away with his peculiar girlfriend, and Laurel’s relationship with her other daughter had always been strained. The dynamic between Lau- rel and her other daugh-
ter was extremely interesting because Laurel saw her other daughter as the polar opposite
of Ellie. Where she saw Ellie as perfect, full of life, and her baby, she saw Hanna as cold. But as the story goes on, and we learn more about Hanna and see their interactions, Hanna is cold for many reasons, including Laurel herself.
A multiple-POV story is al- ways interesting. It helps the reader see the story from differ- ent perspectives and uncovers details the main character has yet to discover. There were themes of family and individual healing as Laurel worked to uncover the mystery of what happened to her daughter while rebuilding her relationship with her family. Then She Was Gone delivers a devastatingly fascinating book with a satisfying ending.
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wisdom and intelligence – almost like she was never taught how just to be a kid. I really enjoyed