Tag: Henley Literary Festival

Book Review: The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana

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The Missing GirlAbout the Book

When Anna Flores’ adored older sister goes missing as a teenager, Anna copes by disappearing too, just as soon as she can: running as far away from her family as possible, and eventually building a life for herself abroad.

Thirty years later, the death of her mother finally forces Anna to return home. Tasked with sorting through her mother’s possessions, she begins to confront not just her mother’s death, but also the huge hole Gabriella’s disappearance left in her life – and finds herself asking a question she’s not allowed herself to ask for years: what really happened to her sister?

With that question comes the revelation that her biggest fear isn’t discovering the worst; it’s never knowing the answer. But is it too late for Anna to uncover the truth about Gabriella’s disappearance?

Format: ebook (336 pp.)    Publisher: PanMacmillan/Mantle
Published: 18th December 2017    Genre:  Crime, Mystery, Thriller

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Missing Girl on Goodreads

My Review

As well as attending several events at this year’s Henley Literary Festival (which runs from 29th September to 7th October), I wrote recently about how I’d been inspired to create a reading list of books by some of the authors appearing at the Festival.   The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana is one of those books.

The Missing Girl is a compelling mystery but also an absorbing and believable depiction of a family coping with the disappearance of a child.  For me, this second element was the most rewarding part of the book.   As the mystery of Gabriella’s disappearance remains unresolved, it has a disturbing effect on the family.  Even more so coming as it does on top of overheard fragments of conversations and knowing glances between her father and mother the meaning of which twelve-year old Anna doesn’t understand at the time.   Anna mainly notices the hole Gabriella’s absence has left in their lives. ‘There was an emptiness, a stillness.  Gabriella had created sound.’

Alternating between two timelines – the present day and the 1980s – I thought the author did a particularly good job of recreating a sense of the earlier period.  A time when a bottle of Cinzano and a bowl of Twiglets marked a family celebration, Sunday lunch was a roast dinner (followed by roly-poly and custard if you were lucky) and a popular teenage hangout was the Our Price record shop.    I also liked the way the rather insular nature of a small village was conveyed and the spine-tingling feeling the author creates as young Anna undertakes her own investigation in the wooded outskirts of the village.

Given the sisters’ close relationship, I’ll admit I found it a little difficult to understand how Anna could have spent thirty years not wanting to find out more about Gabriella’s disappearance and Anna’s life in those intervening years doesn’t get much attention.  Nevertheless, the death of her mother does awaken Anna’s desire to know the truth – ‘Persistence, the need to know, creeping back after all those years away’ – and, luckily for her, some of the key witnesses from the time are still around.

The Missing Girl is an accomplished debut which I really enjoyed for the author’s deft handling of the dual timelines and its multi-layered story.   The author lays down plenty of tempting false trails for the reader to follow and although I (sort of) guessed one of the key twists in the book before it was revealed it didn’t spoil my enjoyment of what followed.  The solution to the mystery of Gabriella’s disappearance – sorry, not going to say!  However, I’ll admit the author wrong-footed me.

Jenny Quintana is appearing at Henley Literary Festival on 30th September 2018 (tickets still available as at time of writing)

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In three words: Atmospheric, unsettling, mystery

Try something similar…Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor (read my spoiler free review here)

Jenny Quintana, author.About the Author

Jenny Quintana grew up in Essex and Berkshire, before studying English Literature in London. She has taught in London, Seville and Athens and has also written books for teaching English as a foreign language. She is a graduate of the Curtis Brown Creative writing course.  She now lives with her family in Berkshire. The Missing Girl is her first novel.                                      (Photo credit: Alicia Clarke)

Connect with Jenny

Twitter  ǀ Goodreads

A Henley Literary Festival 2018 Reading List #HLF2018

whatcathyreadnext1 Comment

Henley-on-ThamesThis year’s Henley Literary Festival takes place between 29th September and 7th October and there is a fantastic programme of events featuring many well-known authors, including those from the world of politics, current affairs, sport and entertainment.  Events are staged at a number of venues in the lovely setting of Henley-on-Thames, including at the fourth oldest working theatre in the UK, on the site of an 18th century brewery and on a boat travelling up the River Thames. You can find details of the full programme here, including the latest information about ticket availability.   

Henley-on-ThamesI visited Henley Literary Festival for the first time last year, attending two events. You can read my reviews of both events on my dedicated Henley Literary Festival page.  Following last year’s Festival, I published a list of ten suggestions for ways to support your local literary festival so it seems only fair that my actions should speak as loud as my words.  I did become a Friend of Henley Festival (no. 3) and, as such, got access to the priority booking period which I used to book tickets for three events (no. 5).  You can find details of these on my Henley Literary Festival page and I’ll be adding links to my reviews of them.

Time, budget and other considerations mean I can’t attend all the events that caught my eye in the Festival programme but I’ll be trying to make up for this in a number of ways.

  • As already mentioned, I’ll be blogging about the events I am attending.
  • I’ve also been inspired to create a reading list of books by some of the authors appearing at the other Festival events which caught my eye.
  • I’ll be publishing my (spoiler free) reviews of these books on my blog in the run-up to and during the period of the Festival and sharing them via social media.

Yes, you’re right.  I’ve effectively appointed myself to the entirely unofficial (and, as far as I know, non-existent) position of ‘bookblogger-in-residence’ at the Henley Literary Festival 2018!

To keep up-to-date with everything going on at the Henley Literary Festival, follow the Festival on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram or sign up to their newsletter via their website. Please note: I have no commercial relationship with Henley Literary Festival.  I’m just a book lover and book blogger keen to support my local literary festival. 

My Henley Literary Festival 2018 Reading List

Click on the book title to view the book description on Goodreads or my review.

Paris Echo by Sebastian Faulks

The Missing Girl by Jenny Quintana

The Long and Winding Road by Alan Johnson

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Dear Mrs. Bird by A J Pearce

Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson

So Much Life Left Over by Louis De Bernieres

The Temptation by Vera Morris

Murder at the Grand Raj Palace by Vaseem Khan

The Dark Tide by Vera Brittain

The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse

Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan

The Cliff House by Amanda Jennings

Dead Man’s Gift by Simon Kernick

If you’re tempted by any of these books – or books by other authors appearing at Henley Literay Festival  – and you live locally, then why not purchase them from the Festival’s Partner Bookseller, The Bell Bookshop.  Alternatively, support your local bookshop by ordering from Hive.co.uk.