Why a Booktrail?
1917, 1946: A disappearance, a discovery and a search for the truth…
The Disappearance
What you need to know before your trail
What was hidden will be revealed…
When Frances’ best friend Bronwyn disappeared over twenty years ago, her body was never found. The mystery over what happened has cast a shadow over Frances’ life ever since.
Now, it’s 1942 and bombs are raining down on Bath. In the chaos a little boy – Davy Noyle – goes missing. Frances was meant to be looking after him and she is tortured by guilt at his disappearance. Where has he gone, and could he possibly have survived?
But bombs conceal, and they reveal – and as quiet falls and the dust settles, a body is disturbed from its hiding place. What happened all those years ago? And can Frances put the wrongs of the past right again…?
Locations
Reset- England - Somerset - Bath
- A: Beechen Cliff Rd
- B: Chapel of St Mary Magdalen
- C: River Avon
- D: Henry St
- E: Bath Lookout
- F: Orange Grove
- G: Bath Deep Lock
- H: Frome Rd
Travel Guide
Discover the war history of Bath with Katherine Webb
The novel is set firmly in the war-torn city where bombs are raining down on the streets and houses in and around Holloway and Beechen Road. This history of the city really helps bring the time to life as you feel the fear, the shock and the horror of the war. Houses bombed and destroyed, the fear of having having to flee into the air raid shelter when you hear the sirens.
The people of Bath try to lead normal lives but one night, a girl goes out for some time on her own and when she gets to her friends house, it’s been destroyed and is now a pile of rubble. Missing people and the unknown were common sadly at that time, and the fear and uncertainty of the time mean that it was very hard to get any real answers about missing people and/or accidents.
The author is keen to point out that the story is inspired by the Bath Blitz but it’s not a fictional account by any means. Many of the events are based on real ones but the people with speaking parts in the novel are fictional.
The Leper Hospital which is such a part of the novel was located on Holloway with the St Mary Magdalene Chapel. The poor workhouse was also a sad feature of the Victorian times and earlier.
A mystery of a girl and a child told across time reveal the confusion of war and a city trying to come to terms with its past.
Streetview Maps
A) England - Bath - Beechen Cliff Road
B) England - Bath - Former leper hospital
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Disappearance
Destination: Bath Author/Guide: Katherine Webb Departure Time: 1918, 1946
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
