In 1982, when she was just 12, Anna Flore’s 15-year-old sister Gabriella disappeared without a trace. Her father and mother retreated into themselves and House of Flores, their secondhand store, suffered. Unable to recommence their former life, the family slowly broke down.

Confused and bereft, Anna retreated into a life of isolation and disconnection. Working as a travel writer in different parts of the world, she finally settled to teach in Greece. But when her mother, Esther, dies 30 years after the tragedy, Anna is forced to return home to England and sort through her family’s possessions.

Prepared to stay just for the funeral then vanish again herself, she queries why her mother would have accepted the house clearance of the recently deceased Edward Lily. He was a suspect in the disappearance all those years ago after all. Despite her initial reticence, she is drawn to revisit the unsolved circumstances of her sibling’s vanishing.

Piecing together memories of the weeks leading up to the devastating unexplained loss of her sister, Anna relives the trauma her family endured in a first person account of how her teenage self investigated the crime. Was abusive and belligerent Charlie Ellis involved somehow, or Tom the town simpleton, or Edward’s elusive daughter, Lydia?

As an adult, she revisits Rita, her mother’s best friend and confidante, and Martha Ellis, her sister’s awkward companion, to find answers. Making friends with David, a house removalist, she starts to bring to light new clues and discovers items from Edward Lily’s cottage that hold answers to other unknown mysteries.

This brooding novel moves easily between the past and present, exudes a quiet suspense and keeps the reader hooked until the spine-chilling truth is finally revealed.

Reviewed by Esther Perry