Louisa arrives at Temple House, an upmarket Catholic school run by nuns. She has a scholarship and feels intimidated by everyone. She makes friends with the glamorous Victoria and is introduced the the art teacher, Mr Lavelle. She soon forms a bond with the both of them with devastating consequences
Louisa and Mr Lavelle both disappear - where?
Twenty five years later, a journalist, who knew Louisa, decides to try to solve the mystery of what really happened that night.
Will anyone talk and what do they know?

I had very mixed feelings as I read this book. The story line was good although predictable at times. I found that it jumped to much from past to present for me to totally enjoy as it lost some of the smoothness that I personally like when I read. The descriptions of the private convent school with all the religious routines were captured well as was the issue created by bringing in scholarship girls into a group of spoilt privileged girls. Adding in a charismatic risque art teacher was a lovely addition to the story and created the drama so well.
I think that this would appeal best to the young adult bracket as it lacked the oomph that I certainly expect from a thriller/mystery book.

This was a mixed read for me.
I found the intrigue and angst of the characters well written, you get a real sense of how toxic and depressing the school environment was and how history had hidden and contorted the facts of what happened.
I was however expecting a gothic kind of book but for me the setting of Temple House wasn't as descriptive as I'd have liked, this book could really have been set anywhere and though it was in the 90s I couldn't tell where it was set apart from by the coast, it lacked that environment description, which to me left the story lacking.
I can see this story more as an art film or TV miniseries, it reminded me of a more modern The Talented Mr Ripley or Mean Girls but with a slightly historical element but the 90s setting wasn't quite as descriptive to emphasise a real nostalgia of the era, it felt almost as a tool for allowing the communication via notes & letters rather than SMS/email. There were times the pace was quite slow or didn't quite work for me because there was a build up but equally it left a lot unsaid.

This debut involves an elite, Catholic boarding school, and the mysterious disappearance of scholarship girl, Louisa and charismatic art teacher, Edward Lavelle.

I often find myself drawn to novels set in Catholic schools – probably because I went to a convent school myself. Here we have Louisa, whose parents are divorcing, and who has decided that she wants to reinvent herself at Temple House School, but finds that she does not really fit in. Of course, there is bullying among the girls and this comes in the form of the repressed, and repressive, Head Girl, Helen. However, wild child, Victoria, soon befriends Louisa and makes life more bearable.

This novel uses the intense emotion of youth well and mixes this with the aftermath of events, as a journalist tries to uncover what really happened, all those years ago and how it affected those involved. Overall, this was an assured debut. I enjoyed the sections with the journalist more than those sections set in the past, but an interesting read with an atmospheric setting. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Very cleverly written book which details what happens to one of the characters! I got a bit confused in parts with the many different characters but thoroughly enjoyed!

2,5 Stars

This is a haunting and atmospheric book about two girls who met at a boarding school. The become friends and also entangled with their unconventional art teacher. One day one of the girls, Louisa and the teacher disappeared. 25 years later a journalist is writing an article about the case and gets in contact with the other girl, Victoria.

I love stories about students, boarding school etc. So the book seems perfect for me. Unfortunately I had problems to find my way into the story right from the beginning. I had difficulties to tell the two timelines apart sometimes and I mixed up Louisa and Victoria because Louisa, the girl who disappeared, is one of the narrators. But that was my own stupidity. But I really never got the connection the two girls developed. The author lingers too long on the journalist and is very timid about showing us how they both bond. For me the book jumped too much back and forth and lacked of depth. Although I liked the dark atmosphere I found the characters too pretentious and I never was captured by the mystery.

This is a pretty decent, solid debut which kept my attention nicely throughout. Set in a dual timeline - the present and going back 25+ years when Louisa and Victoria met at boarding school - we follow the mystery of the disappearance of Louisa and her art teacher, Edward, and the endeavours of a journalist who is determined to get to the truth of what happened.
Temple House is a convent boarding school and our first narrator, Louisa, wins a scholarship place to study there. She feels a little out of place but, after teaming up with Victoria, and being favoured by bohemian art teacher Edward, she soon starts to feel she is fitting in. Even though she appears to be compromising and turning a blind eye to warning signs. She also incurs the wrath of Head Girl Helen on more than one occasion. Back in the present and our second narrator, an unnamed journalist, is trying to piece together the events leading up to the vanishing of Louisa and Edward. She has a personal interest as she remembers Louise from her own childhood and is determined to find out what happened to her, and Edward, and whether the two were indeed linked or coincidence. Even whether they two are still alive!?
This was a very well written story with some really powerful passages which set the scene and tone of the narrative very well. It was a little predictable in parts so, and I am not sure it was even meant to, it failed to deliver me any punches or aha moments. I actually enjoyed the build-up to the vanishing more than anything else in the book and felt slightly let down when all was finally revealed.
It's haunting and evocative but, at the same time, I also felt that only the surface was scratched in places and certain things could have been developed further. I wanted to know more about certain aspects of what was happening rather than featuring on the journalist although their part was instrumental in progressing the narrative. Bit torn, to be honest, and on occasion also a bit spoonfed.
I've been a tad brutal maybe but there is lots more positive than negative in this book, hence the four star rating. The writing is good, the characters complete but the pacing could be a bit smoother.
All in all, a good solid read that kept my attention despite my, mostly minor, niggles. I would definitely be interested in seeing what the author serves up for her follow-up book. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is a haunting story set in Temple House a school run by nuns, who seem to favour the wealthy young girls, imposing some absurd rules on the pupils, leaving the young girls who are on scholarships on the lower rungs of the hierarchy. The story opens with the suicide of one of the girls. Before going back in time to 1990.

Louisa and Victoria met a Temple House Catholic School, they had immediately become fast friends. The story is told by Louisa as the narrator.

Louisa, a bright clever 16 year old is on a scholarship as a weekly boarder. The school isn’t a good place to be If you are there on a scholarship. Victoria is a more intense student. Louisa’s friendship with Victoria is what gets her through many of the challenges she faces at the school.

Mr Lavelle, the young, charismatic art teacher seems out of place at the school, he is very popular with the pupils mainly because of his age and manner. I’m sure at some stage most pupils have had a crush on a teacher.

But then one day one of the girls and Mr Lavelle disappear. The story has a few unexpected twists and turns. Leading the reader in a certain direction of thinking.

Alongside this story is a second plot line, a journalist writing a piece 25 years later, of what happened in 1990. The journalists investigation is used as a way of revealing what happened.

The haunting atmosphere of Temple House, with lots of grand, sweeping description, gives the story a gothic feel. But for me the plot was a little slow, the writing was great, if you are into gothic reads with a mystery, then this may be the perfect read for you. The story is mostly focused on Louisa and Victoria.

I would like to thank #netgalley #Corvus for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

As a child, I adored Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers books and was desperate to go to boarding school. I imagined midnight feasts, friends that became as close as sisters, playing pranks on the teachers and receiving a first-class education. After reading The Temple House Vanishing I can only be grateful that I was neither from the sort of family that values this type of education nor was I the recipient of a scholarship due to my superior intellect.
The book is a richly atmospheric gothic story that is almost claustrophobic. Set in the isolated school run by nuns, the intensity of adolescent hormones described made me catch my breath remembering how wonderful and confusing it is to be a teenage girl. The casual cruelty from the fee-paying girls towards the scholarship girls was so wonderfully evoked and the consequences of this so dramatic and yet utterly believable. Louisa's experience of unrequited love and the horror of realising the true character of the object of her affection was heartbreaking. The adoration bestowed upon the art teacher, and his careless handling of this privilege made me simultaneously angry and I suppose nostalgic, as I remembered my schoolgirl crushes. Altogether it is a wonderful dream of a book and I eagerly anticipate what Rachel Donohue will write next.

My thanks go to Net Galley and the publishers for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Oh gosh! I so wanted to like this book. The synopsis is interesting and I was looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately, I found it plodding and slow and struggled to finish it.

An OK read from me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

This is my first 5 star review of 2020 and it is so well deserved. From start to finish this story pulled me deep into its depths and held me captive. The writing was exquisite and there was nothing I would fault. The story is told from two perspectives, that of Louisa and the journalist. I have to say from the time I started reading this book I was hooked. There was something about the writing that spoke to me on a deeper level and I was drawn to reading late into the night. I had to know Louisa and her story. It is told in first person point of view, which I love, and the descriptions are so vivid that I could picture myself as a student at Temple House. Louisa's longing to fit in and feeling like an outside resonated with me and that is probably why I found this story so captivating. The fact that the story took place in 1990 when I was a teen myself really grounded me in the reality of it. No mobile phones, notes being passed in class, a simpler life in many ways and yet still the struggles of being different and being a teenager.

The book opens and you know that Louisa has been missing for 25 years along with a male school teacher. You want to know what happens and as Louisa begins to tell her story, you'll find yourself transported to the drafty Temple House filled with nuns and the strict routines. This is a beautiful coming of age story that shows the complexities of teen life and struggling to find who you are. There is also the mystery of what happened to Louisa and as the story plays out, all the answers are revealed.

I'm so grateful to Netgalley and Atlantic Books Corvus for giving me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of The Temple House Vanishing and I think I've found a new favorite author in Rachel Donohue too.

Firstly, I’d like to thank NetGalley for giving me this ebook in return for an open and honest review.

Having read the synopsis of this book, it immediately caught my interest and I was really looking forward to reading this book. However, having got more than halfway through the book I couldn’t work out what the plot line was, in fact it was only near the end of the book that the plot is revealed. As such I really struggled to motivate myself to keep reading this book.

The book though is well written, but I didn’t really take to any of the characters, which probably didn’t help. I also feel that this booked is aimed for a younger audience, which is probably another reason why I struggled with this book.

I really enjoyed this book so much. It has a really great plot, superb main characters and I read it in one sitting. I would highly recommend this book.

Gifted Louisa wins a scholarship to Temple House, a prestigious Catholic boarding school. Being from a less affluent background she struggles to fit into the school's culture, with the nuns and prefects running a very tight ship. But when in her art class she meets the beautiful and intriguing Victoria and their bohemian young art teacher, Mr Lavelle, she starts to believe she could be happy there.


Cut to 25 years later and an eager young journalist is writing a piece on "The Temple House Vanishing", where a young girl and her teacher disappeared without a trace - Louisa and Mr Lavelle. With a personal interest in the story (she lives across the road from Louisa's parents) our reporter is keen to shed some light on the quarter-century old mystery. But will she be able to negotiate the secrets and lies to uncover the truth?


The story shifts between being told from Louisa's perspective and that of our present day journalist. From Louisa we learn of the building intensity of her feelings towards Victoria and of Victoria's (real or imagined) not quite platonic relationship with Mr Lavelle. The author manages to build an unsettling sense of foreboding throughout these chapters, which is amplified by Louisa's strange interactions with the nuns and prefects.


In the present day, the school now closed, our journalist's interviews give her the distinct sense that the staff and pupils of Temple House have closed ranks and that even 25 years later they are keen to distance themselves from the school's two outsiders. The two narrative strands are tightly woven together to form a dark and irresistible mystery that kept me guessing until the end.


Donohue's writing style is exquisite, and it is almost impossible to believe that this is her debut novel. This, along with the setting and atmosphere of the book is, to my mind, reminiscent of Du Maurier, and I can't wait to read whatever she writes next.

Thank you to Netgalley, Rachel Donohue and Atlantic Books/Corvus for my arc of The Temple House Vanishing in exchange for an honest review. 

Synopsis: 25 years ago a 16 year old student and her charismatic male teacher disappeared without a trace. In the elite catholic boarding school the girls are ruled by religion and fear of sin, directed by the nuns who teach them. Louisa feels like an outsider until she meets Victoria and Mr Lavelle. Years later a journalist determines to unravel the mystery of what happened at the school and what happened to the young girl and her teacher.

I really enjoyed this book, it gripped me from the very beginning and made me not want to put it down. The characters were interesting, the boarding school also very interesting not least because it is a badly run, overly religious tumbledown old house dressing itself up as a prestigious boarding school for the daughters of rich benefactors.

I thought the idea of the journalist investigating it was great and the multiple povs give the reader a lot of insight into what was happening at the time as well as present day. Looking forward to seeing more from this author in future!

Twenty-five years ago, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic teacher disappeared without trace...

When Louisa arrives at Temple House, an elite catholic boarding school, she quickly finds herself drawn to sophisticated fellow pupil Victoria and their young bohemian art teacher, Mr Lavelle. The three of them form a bond that seems to offer an escape from the repressive regime of the nuns who run the cloistered school. Until Louisa and Mr Lavelle suddenly vanish. Years later, a journalist with a childhood connection to Louisa determines to resolve the mystery. Her search for the truth will uncover a tragic, mercurial tale of suppressed desire and long-buried secrets.

The Temple House Vanishing is a well-written and a genuinely atmospheric page-turner. I pride myself on being able to spot the coming ‘twists’ and suss out what the answers to the puzzles are, but I wasn’t even close?! I now need to go back and read it all again as I am sure the clues must have been there but the author hid them so well.

Other reviews have compared Rachel Donohue's writing style to Shirley Jackson, Kate Atkinson and Daphne Du Maurier (among others), but I think this does her an injustice as her voice is new and original and I can’t wait to read more by her.

Fantastic, well written! Really enjoyed it. The way it was written at the end, I felt was very cleverly done- well throughout, It had me questioning what had really happened, as I expected Louisa to be dead but then from the writing I was expecting her to be alive and maybe escaped- I kept going back and forth on this for a while whilst reading. I would have liked more information on what happened to Mr Lavelle but the snippet I read was better than nothing. It tied it up neatly at the end.

I will be looking out for the authors other books! Thank you for letting me preview this book.

A very well written debut novel, a suspenseful story from the start to the end with quite a surprising final chapter, great characters and interesting story overall.
It's told in two pov from the past and present, the twists and turns unfolding throughout the pages and kept me engrossed in it till the end.
I'm looking forward to read more books by the author

Thanks to Atlantic Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A sublimely written novel of love, loss and longing combining the pathos of Donna Tartt with the atmospheric resonance of “Picnic at Hanging Rock”.

“The Temple House Vanishing” is one of the most beautifully written, sublimely constructed novels I have ever read. Rachel Donohue’s debut novel is quite simply a tour de force of the imagination. Oozing atmosphere, with characters that defy the combination of words that make up their fictional existence, such is their realism, this hauntingly eerie story of love, loss and longing will live long in the memory. Every page of Donohue’s novel reminded me of Donna Tartt’s enduring classic, “The Secret History”, such was the power of her understated narrative. Yes, this novel has a mystery at its heart, but “Temple House Vanishing” defies easy categorisation. Part coming of age story, part expert study of the human condition and of course, part mystery - all applies. For me this novel is quite simply a future classic of literary fiction - simply stunning.

This was an excellent read. The characters were interesting and full of intrigue which made this book a real page turner. There is a mystery of where Louisa, a student, and the art teacher, Mr Lavelle, have vanished to. A journalist who knew Louise sets out to find out what happened and solve the mystery. I loved how the story unfolded and the ending was quite a surprise.