She is the missing girl. But she doesn’t know she’s lost.

Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children’s festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, 8-year-old Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift…

While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is – and who she might become.

My Review

I loved this book. I know there are many books written about children being abducted, but this was quite different.

Eight-year-old Carmel often hides from her mother Beth, but this time she can’t be found. A man who claims to be her grandfather has taken her. He tells her that her mother has been in a devastating accident and he is to take care of her for now. Her mother doesn’t get any better, so she has to stay with him. He also tells her that her father doesn’t want her because he has a new family now with Lucy.

But ‘Gramps’ has another agenda. He believes that Carmel has a special gift of healing and together they can travel and make people better. And make a living. Who is this man as he is clearly not her real grandfather. Or is he?

In the meantime, Beth’s life has come to a standstill. Every day she looks for Carmel, holding on to every sighting, every crank who claims to have seen her and every new lead. Carmel’s body has never been found, so there is no reason to believe she has been killed.

I read this in 11 staves with The Pigeonhole book club. I couldn’t wait for the next instalment to be released. I loved reading about Carmel’s life probably more so than Beth’s. It was so unusual. Most children in stories nowadays are kidnapped for ransom, sex trafficking etc. Not to be hiked round another country as a ‘healer’.

I know there are a few things that are marginally far-fetched like how did Carmel and Gramps leave the country, though that is kind of revealed or hinted at much later on. Why did Carmel never try to run away or tell anyone who she was? Was no-one ever suspicious enough to report what they had witnessed?

I’m always been fascinated by religious fervour, cults etc, so this book was perfect for me. I now want to read the sequel.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Kate Hamer grew up in the West Country and Wales. She studied art and worked for a number of years in television. In 2011 she won the Rhys Davies short-story prize and her short stories have appeared in various collections. Her debut novel The Girl in the Red Coat was published in 2015. It was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Prize, the British Book Industry Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, and the Wales Book of the Year. It was followed by the acclaimed The Doll Funeral in 2017 and Crushed in 2019. Kate now lives with her husband in Cardiff.