The Book Depository The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase
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Price: £8.99
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Description: The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde : Paperback : Penguin Books Ltd : 9781405919340 : : 17 May 2018 : 'An enthralling story of secrets, sisters and an unsolved mystery' Kate Morton, Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lake House From the present day. Applecote Manor captivates Jessie with it promise of hazy summers in the Cotswolds. She believes it's the perfect escape for her troubled family. But the house has an unsettling history, and strange rumours surround the estate. To the fifties. When teenage Margot and her three sisters arrive at Applecote during the heatwave of '59, they find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their daughter, Audrey, five years before. The sisters are drawn into the mystery of Audrey's vanishing - until the stifling summer takes a shocking, deadly turn. Will one unthinkable choice bind them together, or tear them apart? Step back in time for a richly evocative mystery, where the beauty of a Cotswolds summer is vividly contrasted with the violence which shatters it. Praise for The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde' Evocative and filled with subtle intrigue. I so enjoyed it' Clare Mackintosh, bestselling author of I See You' The most beautiful book you will read this year' Lisa Jewell, bestselling author of I Found You' Every now and then you read a special book and this is one. Spell-binding' Dinah Jefferies, bestselling author of The Tea Planter's Wife' Beautifully written with a gripping plot, I couldn't stop reading this' Katie Fforde, bestselling author of A Secret Garden' Infused with tension and suspicion as lies are uncovered, I was gripped by this dark mystery' Claire Douglas, bestselling author of Local Girl Missing' Underlying the lyrical description is a masterful suspense. Bewitching' Veronica Henry, bestselling author of The Forever House' Utterly engrossing and beguiling from the first page, a beautifully written, exquisitely paced, dark dream of a book' Rowan Coleman, bestselling author of The Summer of Impossible Things. The Book Depository The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9781405919340
MPN: 9781405919340
GTIN: 9781405919340
Author: Jenny Hitchen
Rating: 5
Review: Great book - excellent read, thoroughly enjoyed it.
Author: little bookworm
Rating: 3
Review: I loved Chase's debut novel Black Rabbit Hall, and as such had high hopes for this book. The story certainly starts off with a bang, its 1959 and we are met with four sisters dragging a dead body across a lawn in the early hours of morning, bound together by something terrible. What has led to this awful moment? As a reader, I was instantly hooked. After this we move to the present time, albeit find ourselves at the same house, Applecote Manor, where Jess is determined to create a new idyllic life with her family, hoping to put behind past troubles, especially with her difficult teenage step-daughter Bella. I have to say I found the modern day story rather slow, mainly concerned as it was with strained family dynamics, Jess in particular grating on the nerves as she became increasingly insecure about her husband Will's dead first wife Mandy. Too much time was spent for my liking merely following Jess' thoughts, nothing much actually happening; nor did the story really connect very much to the past story. Chase's main strength here for me was mainly in the sense of foreboding she managed to create, and the setting of Applecote itself, a house with a past, the impressions of its past residents still resonating strongly, that atmosphere of mystery, cloaked secrets that refuse to offer themselves up. I found myself much more immersed in the past story set in the 50s, which follows the Wilde sisters, and takes us back to the start of the summer that ends with that body being dragged across Applecote's lawn. The Wilde sisters have not been to Applecote since their cousin Audrey disappeared five years ago, and returning their now for the summer, it is a house drastically changed, their aunt and uncle mere shadow's of their former selves. Margot, the closest to Audrey, finds herself increasingly drawn to Audrey's old room, desperate to learn the truth of her cousin's disappearance. With the arrival on the scene of two handsome young men, the summer begins to show more promise; though jealousies and rivalries soon begin to spring up between the sisters, threatening their once tight knit unit. Needless to say it is a summer that will change all their lives. Chase recreates life in the 1950s quite perfectly, and also does a good job of capturing adolescent longing. There are wonderful lush descriptions of the English countryside and Applecote seems an idyllic setting; yet Audrey's disappearance shrouds the house in mystery, a sense of haunting. There is also that undeniable sense of escalating tension, the reader already prepared for a darker turn of events, just waiting for them to unfold. Overall the past story was engaging enough to sustain my interest in the book; though I did feel that some of the characterization and events became a little bizarre towards the end. Ultimately the book did not quite meet my expectations, and certainly did not for me match Chase's previous novel, though it was still beautifully written. Personally I cannot help but wonder if the story might have been better told omitting the present day story, and instead focusing on the Wilde sisters, perhaps also giving flashback chapters to before Audrey's disappearance.
