There were some beautifully atmospheric scenes in this book,where you could almost feel the longing for the teacher,and the actual angst of being a teenage girl,housed with other teenage girls...
I liked both Louisa as narrator and the journalist... But the whole book just missed the mark for me.
Never fully lived up to some parts of it.
The story slowly unfolded and it was a tangled web. I'm just glad it wasn't left unresolved.

I absolutely loved this book! Really not an enormous plot! But beautifully written and the characters were so colourfully described that I could envision them as if they were real! Wonderful read!

Compelling mystery.

Teenaged schoolgirl, Louisa, disappears with her charismatic teacher, Mr Lovelle, from Temple House, the catholic girls’ boarding school. They are never seen again. Twenty-five years on, a journalist attempts to unlock the mystery.

Donohoe writes with an understated style that captures the intensity of adolescent passion and jealousy, the darkness of the bullying, Hitleresque ‘Vestal Virgin’ prefects, and the desperation of the outsider wanting to belong in a world of privilege. Her characterisation fully engages the reader: Louisa, the scholarship girl; Victoria, privileged and not entirely in touch with reality; Mr Lovelle, the art teacher with movie-star glamour; Helen, the bitchy, scheming head girl.

With two narratives in the first person, the early pages are a little confusing.

Keeps the reader guessing to the end. You will not want to put this book down.

My thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the advance reader copy.

A little bit Shirley Jackson, a little bit <i>Virgin Suicides</i>, a little bit <i>Lovely Bones</i>, a little bit <i>Rebecca</i> … I’m not sure; there was a lot that felt familiar about this one, but definitely not derivative. I really enjoyed it.
Some of the blurb for this one feels a bit misdirecting, but maybe that is better for the reader; it leaves room for twists and other reveals to be effective.
We meet Louisa as she starts at Temple House, a moody Catholic boarding school. She’s like many teenage girl protagonists; insecure, lost, a little emo. But she’s better wrought than most. Through her we meet Victoria and Mr Lavelle. The characterization of Mr Lavelle is perfectly done, from the start he is enigmatic in an uncomfortable fashion and a perfect trope for what comes later. Victoria … I’m a little more torn about. I guess I wanted to see more of what was to come, but as Louisa is our narrator we share her blind spots even if we sense the danger earlier on.
The Journalist’s frame narrative really worked for me – breaking Louisa’s reverie with a divergent but sympathetic adult voice puzzling along with the reader.
The prose is atmospheric and a touch bracing – truly in keeping with the narrators’ characters. The setting is painted incredibly well except in one aspect. I wish it geographically located more specifically. Excluding a few word choices so much of this could be US, UK, Ireland… A little more specificity there would have helped ground it for me.
This same story in the hands of a lesser writer would have been very cheap thrills and teen melodrama, but instead – the narration at the end, the enigmas of Victoria and Mr Lavelle – they work great here. The whole thing just comes together beautifully.
And, happy surprise – the Epilogue is absolutely awesome.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the arc to review.

This is a beautiful book. It has a compelling storyline with elements of mystery within it
This book is filled with detailed details which adds to the story
An excellent read

Found it very difficult to get into this book. Couldn't follow the story of chatacters.

Didn't complete.

This is everything I love in a book. Campus novels and thrillers are my favourite genres so to have both wrapped up in one, written by a new female voice, is basically my dream come true! I loved this - it's a mixture of Donna Tartt, Tana French and Kate Atkinson (probably my three favourite writers). Really atmospheric, immediately drawn into the story, plenty of threads and twists to keep you hooked and just gorgeously evocative of life at a girls' boarding school back in the 90s. Really enjoyed it, hope we hear a lot more from Rachel Donohue in the future.

The Temple House Vanishing is a one in a million book that takes you right into the story, you can visualise the setting so well. It’s absolutely magical and I haven’t read a story this fantastic in a long time!

Completed in one sitting so make sure you don’t start reading when you have plans! (I did and I cancelled them since I couldn’t tear away).

The writing style is poetic, romantic and you get a real feel for the characters. Throw in some darkness and this is my kind of read!

Don’t bother wasting your time reading anymore reviews just get it bought and read ASAP!

The Temple House Vanishing is a beautifully atmospheric and involving novel, written in a lyrical literary style with a mysteriously compelling story.

Louisa and her art teacher disappeared one night many years ago. In a case that engaged the nation, neither of them were ever found.

Through the voices of Louisa and a journalist writing a case study 25 years later, we learn about Temple House school, the cliques and the friendships, the social divide and the slow burn of an obsessive relationship.

This is the sort of story I fall into, the past haunting the present in this case almost literally. The truth about what happened back then is revealed in slow, delicious detail where you can almost see what’s coming, a book where at several points you stop and consider, wishing different choices were being made. The author allows you to see her characters with their flaws in full view, their own personality affecting how they interpret words and actions.

Really thought this was terrific. It’s just the kind of literary mystery I look for these days and highly recommend you consider adding it to your 2020 reading lists.

Intelligent, insightful and intriguing.

Remember those old Malory Towers (which gets a name-check) books? This seems to revisit the school while adding in sex, a handsome male teacher, nuns, and some The Secret History-style gothic atmosphere. It definitely has a YA vibe as new girl Louise falls foul of the dress code (indoor shoes, please, for the priceless parquet flooring!) and gets some serious telling off from posh head-girl Helen. But the atmosphere darkens with death, lusty triangles and the mysterious disappearance of teacher and pupil...

This is a fun switch-off read, though the opening would have been more shocking if we hadn't seen it many times before. And it's huge fun going back to a boarding school setting where morality is off the rails. Characterisation isn't deep but it's a likeable page-turner of a tale.