This is an easy and enjoyable read for those who like mystery and historical fiction. Another good offering from Dinah Jefferies.

This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

Sometimes you just need a good ol' historical fiction to read on holiday and that's exactly what The Missing Sister is.

Set against the tropical heat of 1930s Burma, The Missing Sister tells the tale of Belle, a singer from England, who is looking for her elder sister who went missing when she was just a few weeks old. While she was not yet born when this happened, Belle's life was hugely impacted by this as it led to the deterioration of her family.

It didn't blow my mind. My last read was Freshwater by Akweake Emezi so I can't imagine anything is going to blow my mind anytime soon. But it wasn't bad either.

If you're looking for something easy to take your mind off of anything, this will certainly do the trick.

A beautifully written book. Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks to publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read

An enjoyable read and typical of Dinah Jefferies' novels: well written, well paced, good eastern setting with both period and background detail, well drawn characters with an absorbing narrative. Not too demanding, but a great page-turner and ultimately very satisfying.

I went into this one really excited, however I just couldn't connect with the book and was struggling to pick it up when I'd put it down and felt no urge to get back into it.

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

compelling read right to the end, it moved me to tears in places

I'm sorry, I could not finish this and found myself skipping chunks. It may just not be my type of book so I'm giving it 3 stars

The task of repopulating the senior library has been an exciting and daunting task aS in a boarding school our aim is to encourage all members of the community to read. Because of this, I have been searching down a wide and diverse range of books to read that will entice a wide cross-section of the school to come in, browse and find books that they love.
Books like this will ensure that the senior students in the school see the library as a diverse, modern and exciting place with books that speak to them and they want to recommend to their friends, classmates, teachers and tutors.
It is an engrossing and exciting read with fully-formed characters and a plot that ensures that it's hard to look away. It is as far from formulaic as it is possible to be and kept me up far too late in order to finish it. I immediately wanted to read all of this writer's other books as I loved their voice and found that it really drew me into the story and made me think about it even when I'd stepped away from this tale.
This is a thought-provoking read which I'm sure will be a popular and well-read addition to our new library; I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to read it and I know that the students are going to absolutely love it too!

The Missing Sister by Dinah Jefferies is set in 1930s Burma and while we may know some of that happened there this book shows the other side of the tale; its good and bad parts.
A very well written and well paced story that will keep you reading just one more chapter until you're done. The characters feel very tangible in how their written and their fates.
A fantastic ending.
I would recommend this book to those looking for a mix of history and family. Grab this book for when you have time to devour it in a single sitting.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read and review.

A great read. I enjoyed reading it and it has a great plot and characters. I also look forward to more books from the author.

Another gem from this talented author. I always enjoy reading well- researched historical novels. This gave me an insight into 1930s Burma , full of atmosphere and colourful!

Love Dinah Jeffries books and this one is no exception. Couldn’t put it down nd such a fab read. If ya haven’t read a Dinah Jeffries book ya genuinely missing out.

A very immersive world and a captivating read from start to finish. Really enjoyed reading this and looking forward to the next one.

I do enjoy a historical novel and this one was great

Set in Imperial Burma with images of a place that I can only imagine, this story was clever and well plotted.
Great description of scenery and characters.

What I love about Dinah Jefferies books are how vividly told they are; how they truly transport the reader to an exotic destination and how the storyline keeps the momentum going from start to finish. I thoroughly enjoyed this latest release, having waited rather impatiently for it!

Perfect escapist but clearly amazingly researched historical fiction. Vivid description and glamorous characters, you felt like you were taking a peek into their lives. Very enjoyable.

Belle is a young singer who has been offered a chance to sing in Burma, where she lived as a young child. Her mother has recently passed away and Belle discovered that when they lived in Burma her baby sister disappeared and her mother was blamed for hurting her. She has decided to investigate what really happened and meets an American journalist who helps her along the way. She meets some interesting people and there is a lot going on in Burma at the time, riots and bombing which adds to the tension.
As usual Dinah Jeffries writes a lovely story set in a beautiful place. Belle is a lovely character and the story goes back to her mother which adds to the story and the mystery. I love Dinah Jeffries books and this one is no exception
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review

This is my first book by this author and it is well written in the style of the 1930s, although it is surprising to see a young woman travelling alone in those times. The book portrays Burma so well you begin to believe you know it. Interesting story well told, with well developed characters.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Dinah Jefferies/Penguin Books for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

So far, the novels of Dinah Jefferies have taken me to India, Malaya, Ceylon and French Indochina. Now, with The Missing Sister, I have had the opportunity to visit Burma. Known as Myanmar today, the novel is set in 1936 when Burma is still a British colony – although unrest is growing and there are signs that independence might not be far away. It is to Burma that Belle Hatton has come in search of answers to a mystery that has haunted her family for more than twenty years.

Taking a job as a singer in a luxury hotel in the capital city of Rangoon, Belle uses her spare time to hunt for clues that may explain the disappearance of her parents’ baby daughter, Elvira, in January 1911. Belle herself has grown up in England, unaware that her elder sister ever existed, but now that both of her parents are dead, she has discovered a newspaper clipping describing the day Elvira, only three weeks old, vanished from the Hattons’ garden in Rangoon. Although it was all so long ago, Belle is determined to find out what really happened and whether Elvira could possibly still be alive.

As with all of Dinah Jefferies’ novels, the location is beautifully described and although I’ve never been to Burma/Myanmar it was easy to picture the lively, bustling streets of Rangoon, the opulent temples and pagodas, and the scenery Belle sees when, later in the book, she travels upriver to Mandalay. Another common feature of Jefferies’ books tends to be a portrayal of different cultures existing, often uneasily, side by side in the final years of the British Empire (or in the case of The Silkmerchant’s Daughter, the French Empire). This book contains a vivid description of a violent riot between the Burmese and the Burmese Indians, but otherwise I was a bit disappointed that Belle has little involvement with the local people and their struggles, sticking mainly to the British community and focusing on her search for Elvira.

The mystery element of the novel is slightly predictable and although I didn’t guess exactly what had happened to Belle’s sister, I wasn’t at all surprised by the ending of the book. Along the way, Belle is offered help from two very different men – Edward, a British government official, and Oliver, an American journalist – but when she starts to receive anonymous warnings, she is unsure which, if either of them, she can trust. This time, I did guess correctly – but I did have a few doubts as it wasn’t completely obvious.

There was one other aspect of the book that interested me: a storyline set several years earlier and following the story of Belle’s mother, Diana, and how she copes with the tragic disappearance of Elvira. When suspicion falls on Diana herself, she and her husband leave Burma and return to England where, sadly, their marriage starts to break down under the stress of their ordeal. Diana doesn’t receive the support she deserves and decisions are made that will affect not only her own future but also her youngest daughter Belle’s. Diana’s story is told in the form of short chapters interspersed with Belle’s, which means we don’t spend a lot of time with her, but the little glimpses we are given of her life and the way she is treated by her husband are very sad.

This isn’t one of my favourite Dinah Jefferies novels, but I did still enjoy it.