My Friday Post: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Published on by Margaret

Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

This week I’m featuring Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell, one of my TBRs that I bought two years ago. It’s a standalone book, first published in 2017.

It begins with a Prologue:

Those months before she disappeared were the best. .

Chapter One begins:

Laurel let herself into her daughter’s flat. It was, even on this relatively bright day, dark and gloomy. The window at the front was overwhelmed by a terrible tangle of wisteria while the other side of the flat was completely overshadowed by the small woodland it backed onto.

Also every Friday there is The Friday 56, hosted by Freda at Freda’s Voice.

  1. Grab a book, any book.
  2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
  3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don’t spoil it) that grabs you.
  4. Post it.
  5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda’s most recent Friday 56 post.

Page 57 (page 56 is blank):

Laurel was alone. Her family was broken. There was nothing left. Literally nothing.

Blurb:

She was fifteen, her mother’s golden girl.
She had her whole life ahead of her.
And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

Ten years on, Laurel has never given up hope of finding Ellie. And then she meets a charming and charismatic stranger who sweeps her off her feet. But what really takes her breath away is when she meets his nine-year-old daughter. Because his daughter is the image of Ellie. Now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What really happened to Ellie? And who still has secrets to hide?

22 thoughts on “My Friday Post: Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell”

  1. Oh this sounds like it will be super tragic but also full of suspense! I’ll definitely be looking into this one. I’m also very relieved I’m not the only one who buys books and then doesn’t get around to reading them for years! I hope you have a lovely week and do drop by my Friday post if you have the time! – Juli @ A Universe in Words

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  3. I’ve read this one, not sure whether it was last year or the year before, but it’s very good. Lot of twists and turns.

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  5. This sounds intriguing, Margaret. And the writing style in the bit you’ve shared here sounds appealing and engaging. You’ve reminded me, too, that I really ought to read some of Jewell’s work (I confess I haven’t yet)…

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    1. They are sad, aren’t they – I can only read them every now and then, it’s the babies and little children that are the most upsetting.

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