The Lost Sister

by Tracy Buchanan

[Leah]

When Carla Kelly marries Robert Gardiner after a whirlwind romance, their happiness is complete when Carla discovers she's pregnant. Tragedy strikes two days after baby Isobel is born, though, when Isobel is snatched without reason. Meanwhile, Susanne and David Dowling are celebrating the birth of their miracle child Joy. However Susanne is hiding a terrible secret and in her bid to keep her secret a secret, she rears Joy in near-isolation. As Carla and Robert begin the search for their daughter, their marriage begins to crumble under the strain. Carla refuses to move on, believing that her baby is still out there somewhere, waiting for her to find her. As the years pass, Carla's determination to find her daughter never wanes, despite the dwindling hope whereas Susanne carries on rearing Joy by shielding her from the world. As secrets come to the fore, can either mother find the strength to face their demons?

Stolen Child is Laura Elliot's second novel under that name but she's had many books published under her real name of June Considine. I picked up her first book under the name of Laura Elliot, The Prodigal Sister, last year but I haven't yet gotten around to reading it. When I saw the synopsis for Laura's second book Stolen Child, I couldn't wait to read it. I've read a few books about missing children - the one that stands out is Little Miracles by Giselle Green - and they intrigue me, not to mention we're always hearing about children going missing in the news, so it's interesting to see how authors tackle such a subject.

I don't want to spell it out, but I think it's kind of an open secret what happens to Carla's baby; the blurb on the back of the book is told in such a way that it kind of gives it away. It's not a problem, because that's probably not the issue. The issue is how long it all spans out and how deep each person involved gets in the whole thing. I liked how both stories of both women run parallel to each other and they almost blend into one. There's Susanne's story of joy, of hope, of knowing that despite the odds, she has her miracle baby, despite the dubious circumstances within which she 'got' her daughter. And then we have Carla's despair and determination; her despair at the loss of her daughter and her determination to find her baby no matter what. As Carla searches and searches, we see as Susanne tries hard to keep her secrets secret, and the two such contrasting stories blend so well together. It must have been fairly hard to pull off two different set of emotions and two different writing styles, but it's done with aplomb.

I must admit I'm finding it very hard to articulate fully what I thought of the characters. On the one hand, I can understand absolutely everything Susanne does but on the other hand it disgusts me so much. I think we're past the point where I just can't not mention the fact Susanne stole Isobel. And how can I ever like someone who is willing to do something so so terrible? Yet I could, in a totally strange and surreal way, empathise with her plight. I don't agree with what she did, but I could feel for her and she didn't seem too terrible a person. I know she stole another person's child and that does automatically make her terrible, but excluding that, she didn't seem too terrible. I didn't like Carla in the beginning, I thought she enjoyed the publicity and everything surrounding herself and her pregnancy was a bit full on. But after Isobel goes missing, and Carla sees just how invasive the press and media can be, and she realises just how much she hates it, I began to like her a bit more. Not many people would have the will to go on after a child goes missing, particularly after the police even give up, but Carla's determination was admirable. That, there, is what made me like Carla, the fact that she so strongly believed her daughter to be alive, made her for me.

The book doesn't just revolve around Carla and Susanne though, there's also their families and the plot definitely has wider implications than you might expect. There's Susanne's husband David as well as Carla's husband, Robert, and it's Robert and Carla who are hit the hardest. A missing child will do one of two things: bring you closer together or tear you apart and for Robert and Carla is was the latter. Then there's the wider families, the parents of all four characters, and siblings. The damage was far, wide and lasting, that's for sure. Even Joy, Susanne's daughter, is affected and the way she is with her parents, in particular her mum, was shocking at times. That's who I felt for the most because Susanne, despite all I've said, did seem to be a bit of a control freak when it came to Joy.

Stolen Child is definitely a slow-burning read and there isn't much in the way of action but I quite liked the pace of the book. I did want some more revelations to come out and I was itching for it all to kick off but on the whole I enjoyed the read. The book stands at a mammoth 500 pages and you're definitely in it for the long haul. There are a few twists on the way to the end, one in particular I didn't see coming at all. Despite it's relatively slow pace, I did manage to immerse myself fully in the book and the easy reading style certainly helped move the book along. There were a few twee parts but on the whole it was a great read. The book is recommended to fans of Anita Shreve and Rosie Thomas, although I've never actually read either of their books so I have no idea if that's a valid recommendation, but if you like Giselle Green's books or Louise Candlish's books then Stolen Child is probably one you ought to pick up.