In Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell Ellie Mac goes missing. She was a bright and a happy girl, studying for her exams. She left the house one morning, said she was going to the library and never returned. Her mother Laurel and father Paul split up some time after her that. Laurel felt that she couldn’t carry on as normal. They have two more kids, another daughter and a son but Ellie has been her mother’s golden girl. Laurel saw Paul’s ability to move on as a kind of betrayal, or at least as something she was not capable of doing herself, so she let him go. He met somebody else after that.
Years after, Laurel is finally ready to build a new relationship with somebody. Her kinds are now grown ups who flew out of the nest. She is quickly drawn to the man she meets by chance in a cafe. He has a young adult daughter called Sarah-Jane, who is living with her mother and a nine year old child, a step sister to Sarah-Jane, whom he has been raising on his own. Laurel is refusing to admit how striking resemblance the younger girl bears to her missing daughter. Poppy is an odd child. Smart and restrained, not interested in mingling with other kids her age, home schooled and wearing sensible clothes; but she seems to like Laurel and wants to spend time in her company. Laurel suspects she might be missing a mother figure. Floyd doesn’t speak of her mother highly and avoids the subject altogether, the child seems to share his views on the matter.
Laurel goes behind Floyd’s back and tries to reconnect Poppy with her mother’s side of the family. After she has learnt that the mother has gone missing at the same time as her daughter Ellie, she cannot shake the feeling that somehow the two cases are connected. She is determined to learn how, hoping that she will finally uncover the secret of her daughter’s disappearance.
Author herself mentioned that when she has finished and reared the book, she thought it was bizarre and I have to agree. It was capturing but strange. I found Floyd a very conflicting character, lacking integrity. Towards the end he reveals a completely different face, a bit odd and I am not sure if that believable.
Overall a gripping tale. 3 
pencils, math books or backpacks.
Pencils, math books or backpacks rating.
– one of the best books I read
– charmed
– good read
– disappointed, I thought it was going to be better
– don’t waste your time
an open book by Aneta 