The Missing One
The unforgettable debut thriller from the critically acclaimed author of MAGPIE LANE
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2.0 • 1 Rating
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
'A gripping page-turner' Sunday Times
'Beautifully written and compelling' Sabine Durrant
'Satisfyingly creepy' Sunday Mirror
The loss of her mother has left Kali McKenzie with too many unanswered questions. But while clearing out Elena's art studio, she finds a drawer packed with postcard each bearing an identical one-line message from a Canadian gallery owner called Susannah Gillespie: thinking of you. Who is this woman and what does she know about Elena's hidden past?
Desperate to find out, Kali travels with her toddler, Finn, to Susannah's isolated home on a remote British Columbian island, a place of killer whales and storms. But as bad weather closes in, Kali quickly realises she has made a big mistake. The enigmatic Susannah refuses to talk about the past, and as Kali struggles to piece together what happened back in the 1970s, Susannah's behaviour grows more and more erratic. Most worrying of all, Susannah is becoming increasingly preoccupied with little Finn . . .
PRAISE FOR LUCY ATKINS
'Wonderfully skilled' Sarah Perry
'Sly, witty and gripping' Naomi Alderman
'Wholly beguiling' Mick Herron
'Highly intelligent' Sarah Vaughan
'Beguiling, brilliantly creepy' Claire Fuller
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Atkins's engrossing debut immediately immerses the reader in intrigue. Soon after Kali MacKenzie, who lives in Oxford, England, discovers suspicious text messages on the phone of her husband, Doug, she gets a call from her sister, Alice, telling her to come say goodbye to their artist mother, Elena, who's dying of breast cancer. Growing up, Kali found Elena cold and distant, though Alice did not. At her mother's home in Sussex, Kali discovers brief cryptic postcards in Elena's painting studio; they were sent once a year from the Susannah Gillespie Gallery, located on Spring Tide Island off the coast of British Columbia, and signed "Susannah." Conflicted by her emotions, Kali impetuously leaves Doug, whom she's unwilling to face, and flees with their 18-month-old son to Vancouver, where she hopes that talking with Susannah will provide an explanation for Elena's rejection. In the fraught process of unearthing her mother's past, Kali finds an inner strength.
