The Year of Fog (Bantam Discovery)

by Michelle Richmond

Life changes in an instant. On a foggy beach. In the seconds when Abby Mason—photographer, fiancée soon-to-be-stepmother—looks into her camera and commits her greatest error. Heartbreaking, uplifting, and beautifully told, here is the riveting tale of a family torn apart, of the search for the truth behind a child’s disappearance, and of one woman’s unwavering faith in the redemptive power of love—all made startlingly fresh through Michelle Richmond’s incandescent sensitivity and extraordinary insight.

Six-year-old Emma vanished into the thick San Francisco fog. Or into the heaving Pacific. Or somewhere just beyond: to a parking lot, a stranger’s van, or a road with traffic flashing by. Devastated by guilt, haunted by her fears about becoming a stepmother, Abby refuses to believe that Emma is dead. And so she searches for clues about what happened that morning—and cannot stop the flood of memories reaching from her own childhood to illuminate that irreversible moment on the beach.

Now, as the days drag into weeks, as the police lose interest and fliers fade on telephone poles, Emma’s father finds solace in religion and scientific probability—but Abby can only wander the beaches and city streets, attempting to recover the past and the little girl she lost. With her life at a crossroads, she will leave San Francisco for a country thousands of miles away. And there, by the side of another sea, on a journey that has led her to another man and into a strange subculture of wanderers and surfers, Abby will make the most astounding discovery of all—as the truth of Emma’s disappearance unravels with stunning force.

A profoundly original novel of family, loss, and hope—of the choices we make and the choices made for us—The Year of Fog beguiles with the mysteries of time and memory even as it lays bare the deep and wondrous workings of the human heart. The result is a mesmerizing tour de force that will touch anyone who knows what it means to love a child.

• ISBN10: 0385340117
• ISBN13: 9780385340113
• Publish Date: 27 March 2007 (first published 1 January 2006)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 20 May 2017
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 369
• Language: English

Reviews

[Leah]

When Abby Mason looks away from her six-year-old step-daughter for 30 seconds one day at the beach, the last thing she expects is to look back and find Emma gone. It seems as if Emma has just disappeared into thin air and as the search for Emma grows and nothing arises, Abby finds herself locked in her guilt.

Months pass and Abby refuses to give up hope even when everyone around her believes that Emma simply drowned. The need to find Emma turns into an obsession for Abby and soon her relationship with Emma’s dad Jake is suffering. Is it the case that Abby simply refuses to believe the truth or is Emma still out there somewhere, waiting?


Up until The Year of Fog caught my eye I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of Michelle Richmond. I was actually browsing on Ebury Press’s website when I came across The Year of Fog. It didn’t really sound like something that would interest me but I kept coming back to the synopsis about a girl who disappeared on the beach. It reminded me of Little Miracles by Giselle Green which I adored so I took the plunge and ordered myself the book figuring the worst that could happen was that I didn’t like it.

Emma’s disappearance happens on a foggy beach in San Francisco, much like the disapearance of Haydn in Little Miracles by Giselle Green. For me, though, that’s where the similarities end. Whereas Little Miracles was told in an easy-to-read style and alternated from both Julie and Charlie’s point of view, The Year of Fog is a more thought-provoking read told solely from Abby’s point of view. I have to admit that I preferred the easier reading style of Little Miracles to that of The Year of Fog. It may be told entirely from Abby’s point of view but it felt as if it was incredibly distant. Abby seems to keep us at arms length throughout the entire book and it definitely seems to lack emotion. There was no real passion coming off the pages as Abby searches for Emma and the lack of action regarding the search for Emma was actually quite shocking. The police didn’t appear all that interested and the search for Emma was lacking the oomph you would expect when a six-year-old girl disappears.

The Year of Fog is a very sedate read – it’s more about Abby’s guilt than the fact Emma is missing. Sure, Abby is searching desperately to find her but that seems to be because she wants to assuage her guilt rather than because of any desire to find Emma herself. Jake, Emma’s dad, also appears to lack any real passion for his daughter. Yes, like Abby he’s desperate to find her but he was also quick to give up along with the police and I just couldn’t understand why he would so readily want to move on with his life. I understand you can’t logically go on looking forever but surely as a parent, that’s what you would want to do. Particularly since it isn’t that far into Emma’s disappearance he wants to give up.

What I did like was Abby’s determination. Despite the passion I felt it lacked, I thought her determination was quite fantastic, particularly since everyone else wanted to give up. Despite all of the evidence pointing to Emma having potentially drowned, Abby refused to believe it and, even when her and Jake’s relationship came to breaking point, and she had to choose between Emma and Jake, she knew she couldn’t just give up on Emma. I admired her fighting spirit and although her journey trying to find Emma was arduous and at times repetitive, it was also admirable. Abby’s guilt practically drips off the pages and it’s hard not to sympathise with her.

The book covers about a year in total but it still seems quite a slow read and the reveals regarding Emma’s disappearance are few and far between. In part I liked the ending of the book. Let me amend that, I liked everything leading up to the actual end of the book. Abby’s determination took her to Costa Rica in the hope of possibly finding Emma and it provided a positive change of scenery for the book. I have to admit that I had no inkling as to whether Abby would find Emma and was constantly itching to flick to the back page to learn the fate of Emma. It was a surprising lead up to the end and quite satisfying. However the end of the book made me want to bash my head against a brick wall because, quite simply, there were no real answers. I thought I’d missed a chapter when I turned the page and found the Acknowledgements and it irritated me that it ended on such a moot point. It was definitely a disappointing end to what was, up until that point, a relatively enjoyable novel.

I admit, I was probably expecting a different read from the one I got and the seriousness of the writing, although warranted, was a little hard to keep reading at times. Thankfully the chapters are kept relatively short meaning you can take a break if the need arises. I liked The Year of Fog, but it’s nothing something I could read again and the ending was a huge disappointment. If you’re looking for a good child-gone-missing story I would recommend you pick up Little Miracles by Giselle Green which I hugely enjoyed.