Elizabeth Is Missing by Emma Healey

 

Maud's memory is going.  Sometimes she recognizes the women who come to care for her and sometimes they seem like strangers who have broken into the house.  Sometimes she recognizes Helen, her daughter, and Katy, her granddaughter, but not always.  She can't remember to turn off the stove or lock the doors.  She doesn't know where she is if she leaves the house to go for a walk.  But one thing she is sure of.  Elizabeth, her best friend, is missing even if no one believes her.

Maud knows all about missing women.  When she was young, before she was married and had her own children, her beloved older sister, Sukey, went missing.  Sukey was married to Frank and lived a few streets away.  What happened to her?  Did she decide to leave and never contact anyone from her former life?  Or had someone kidnapped or killed her?  Maud doesn't know and her mind twists the story to fit it to her friend's absence.  Can these mysteries be solved?

I found this book very unsettling.  Alzheimer's is one of my greatest fears as I grow older and getting a viewpoint into Maud's unsettled, confused mind was terrifying.  Eventually the bits and pieces she is able to remember from the past start to coalize and form answers but Maud's dependence on others will never be reversed.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.