The Missing One

by Lucy Atkins

This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.

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Pub Date 16 Jan 2014 | Archive Date 10 Feb 2014

Quercus Books | Quercus

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

Description

Kal McKenzie always had a tricky relationship with her mother, Elena, but when Elena dies of breast cancer, Kal is bereft: how do you mourn a mother whose love you could never count on?

While clearing out Elena's art studio, Kal finds a drawer packed with postcards going back thirty-seven years. Each bears the same message from a stranger called Susannah Gillespie, who owns a gallery on a remote British Columbian island, a place of killer whales and storms. On impulse, Kal sets out for Spring Tide Island with her toddler, Finn, in tow. Can her mother's hidden past hold the key to their ruined relationship?

Once she arrives at Susannah's isolated home, Kal quickly realizes she has made a big mistake. The handsome and enigmatic Susannah is alternately elated and disturbed by Kal and Finn's arrival, and refuses to talk about her friendship with Elena. As Kal struggles to piece together what happened between the two women in this inhospitable place back in the 1970s, Susannah's behaviour grows more and more erratic. Most worryingly of all, Susannah is becoming increasingly preoccupied with little Finn...

Please note that due to rights restrictions this proof edition is only currently available to NetGalley users in the United Kingdom.

Kal McKenzie always had a tricky relationship with her mother, Elena, but when Elena dies of breast cancer, Kal is bereft: how do you mourn a mother whose love you could never count on?

While...

A Note From the Publisher

Lucy Atkins is an award-winning feature journalist and author, as well as a Sunday Times book critic. She has written for many newspapers, including the Guardian, The Times, The Sunday Times, and the Telegraph, as well as magazines such as Psychologies, Red, Woman and Home and Grazia. She lives in Oxford.