Why a Booktrail?
1970/1, 2013 : A cruise which turns out to be as far away from paradise as you could ever imagine.
The Disappearance
What you need to know before your trail
Audrey Bailey often thinks of her life before she met and married Ralph Templeton. From the outside, things looked good – a nice house, no money worries and a doting husband with two children. Now approaching 70, she is ready to lift the burden that has plagued her for years and gets closer to the children that she feels increasingly distanced from.
But Audrey has plans – she now wants to put things right and so invites, well rather forces the twins Lexi and John along for the ride. This is going to be the cruise of a lifetime, a time to spend together together before she announces some shattering news. Hours later, she is nowhere to be found. In the middle of the ocean, there’s not many places to hide a body is there? And which of the passengers was the last to see her?
Travel Guide
Bombay
Two stories merging into one. A woman living a life in Bombay with a life full of colour and happiness. A man she marries and a city she falls in love with in every sense of the word. From the markets and the bustle and chaos of the dusty streets, the constant noise and a city which sweeps you away with it. Visiting the Taj Mahal is perhaps the only normal thing Audrey sees when there – this is the tourist part of the city and the real heartbeat of the city is elsewhere.
Cornwall
Flash forward many years, and the Templetons are now in Cornwall. Audrey lives here and her children nearby. They discuss her going into a home, treat her as someone they need to look after but she is the one who is steering the family now. Cornwall is a nice idyllic place following the beautiful Bombay and the lies of London.
The Greek Islands
Her last parting gift to them is a cruise but as they sail past Mykonos, Santorini and Katakolon, secrets come out. The shock of someone going missing at sea is horrific – in the middle of nowhere, in a strange country, on a moving ship where the perpetrator, could be amongst you.
Such horror in the floating paradise and cruise around the Greek Islands. Paradise is only sometimes paradise on the surface. It’s what lies beneath still exterior that we should be most afraid of.
Streetview Maps
Corfu fort
Santorini harbour
Booktrailer Review
Susan:
This was a clever book in many ways. A cruise where someone goes missing, not long after discussing money and inheritance. A marriage soured over the years and a woman who may appear senile at first but who has more marbles than the whole lot of them put together.
Told in dual timeline – present day and then back to Audrey’s past in 1970, I like the way the threads wove together as it was very unexpected! The way in which the story unfolded from Audrey’s past and present made the story build so that you were really familiar with Audrey’s mindset and past history all the way leading up to the cruise. The disappearance was a lot more complex than first thought and this took the story one way, then another – rather like the motions of that ship.
The Disappearance is not just about what disappears from sight but what we lose sight of, things that we need to protect and things we never want to lose.
Audrey was an interesting character and the whole ‘ missing person from a ship’ setting was very intriguing. The ending was a nice surprise and I was not shocked but rather found that it more than wrapped up and explained what had gone on before.
The Disappearance is a multilayered novel that delves deep into a seemingly normal family and the events which lead up to a woman disappearing from an idyllic cruise. A floating paradise around the Greek /Islands and a secret bubbling away under the apparently calm exterior.
Where Next?
