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Elizabeth Is Missing

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Elizabeth Is Missing

By: Emma Healey
Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
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About this listen

NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA

A SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BEST SELLER

How do you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues?

Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger. But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it. Because somewhere in Maud's damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about. Everyone, except Maud....

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award

Shortlisted for National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book

Shortlisted for National Book Awards New Writer of the Year

Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize

Longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction

©2014 Emma Healey (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd
Amateur Sleuths Psychological Suspense Mystery Detective Fiction Scary

Editorial reviews

Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2014,

Elizabeth is Missing is the debut novel written by Emma Healey and is an unabridged mystery audiobook expertly narrated by Anna Bentinck. Audible listeners follow the story of forgetful Maud, who obsesses over finding her missing friend, Elizabeth. It’s a daunting task to search for clues and then forgetting them as soon as they are found. With her memory failing she must rely only on her intuition. It’s never led her off track in the past.... Or has it? A lighthearted and absorbing listen.

Critic Reviews

"A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel." (Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

"Elizabeth Is Missing will stir and shake you: the most likeably unreliable of narrators, real mystery at its compassionate core...." (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)

"Resembling a version of Memento written by Alan Bennett." (Daily Telegraph)

What listeners say about Elizabeth Is Missing

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  • Overall
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Very well written

Really enjoyed this book well written and we'll read highly recommend listening to this book

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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a nice story with a twist

I go to bed with very sore eyes and don't seem to be able to read but I can listen for hours what a wonderful experience this was. The narrator was really good with characters even when she did male voices. Loved it I will be back for more and more.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Scarily realistic and astonishing. A GREAT BOOK

I really chose its book at random, didn't read the summary and was stunned when I discovered the main character had dementia. My sister and I could be the daughter in the book. Our mother has dementia and her behaviour is strikingly similar to the main characters. I don't know how the author got " into her head" Despite reading 100s of articles, doctors visits, dementia support groups this was the first time I really have gained an understanding of what goes on in my mothers head. So many similarities- the notes, the food thing.....
Aside from the above the book is well paced, beautifully written, intriguing mystery.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful book

I loved this book, it described denentia so well, funny, sad, challenging, frustrating and charning
The narrator was wonderful
I didnt want it to end

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A thriller with a twist

I really enjoyed the insights into dementia as well as the rather creepy story. The plot is a clever way of combining past and present with recollection being a natural part of old age and often running alongside dementia. I particularly liked the daughter character, her barely controlled impatience at times and yet her total loyalty to her mother.

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1 person found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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engrossing and heartbreaking

I became thoroughly caught up with the story through both timelines and both mysteries. The lack of closure at the end was a little hard, because throughout the story you really felt like if we could just find out what happened then it would somehow resolve something. As the audience we get at least some of that satisfaction, but the characters really do not. And not just Maude, when you think of all the main characters you realise that this is not a story that gives a satisfying conclusion to its characters, they have had to live out their lives, regardless. A quietly disturbing thinker of a story.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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It was OK

I struggled to finish just was a little slow plot wise. Narration was pretty good except for the older ladies voice that got a little annoying after several chapters.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Sensitively told

The slow onset of dementia told from a first person perspective is rare in fiction. That makes this a good read. The effect of the sufferer's actions on relatives and strangers is funny, sad, and exasperating. The author has clearly done some homework.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A must to download

I manage an aged care service and want to buy a copy of this book for all my staff. A fantastic account of what it must be like suffer from dementia. Although the story may sound a little dry from the description, don't let this fool you. I have been raving about this book since I finished it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

hard to listen to.

The reader changes the volume of her voice all the time. One moment you can't hear her and next she is yelling. I found it rather hard to listen to because of it. The story is captivating though.

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