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Elizabeth Is Missing
- Narrated by: Anna Bentinck
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
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Elizabeth Is Missing
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Editor reviews
Winner of the Costa First Novel Award 2014,
Elizabeth is Missing is the debut novel written by Emma Healey and is an unabridged mystery audiobook expertly narrated by Anna Bentinck. Audible listeners follow the story of forgetful Maud, who obsesses over finding her missing friend, Elizabeth. It’s a daunting task to search for clues and then forgetting them as soon as they are found. With her memory failing she must rely only on her intuition. It’s never led her off track in the past.... Or has it? A lighthearted and absorbing listen.
Summary
NOW A MAJOR BBC DRAMA
A SUNDAY TIMES TOP FIVE BEST SELLER
How do you solve a mystery when you can't remember the clues?
Maud is forgetful. She makes a cup of tea and doesn't remember to drink it. She goes to the shops and forgets why she went. Sometimes her home is unrecognizable - or her daughter Helen seems a total stranger. But there's one thing Maud is sure of: her friend Elizabeth is missing. The note in her pocket tells her so. And no matter who tells her to stop going on about it, to leave it alone, to shut up, Maud will get to the bottom of it. Because somewhere in Maud's damaged mind lies the answer to an unsolved seventy-year-old mystery. One everyone has forgotten about. Everyone, except Maud....
Winner of the Costa First Novel Award
Shortlisted for National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book
Shortlisted for National Book Awards New Writer of the Year
Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize
Longlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women's Fiction
Critic reviews
"A thrillingly assured, haunting and unsettling novel." (Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)
"Elizabeth Is Missing will stir and shake you: the most likeably unreliable of narrators, real mystery at its compassionate core...." (Emma Donoghue, author of Room)
"Resembling a version of Memento written by Alan Bennett." (Daily Telegraph)
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What listeners say about Elizabeth Is Missing
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Cabaspre
- 26-07-14
A distressingly human story so well told
Any additional comments?
How frail we are! The narration was wonderful, depicting Maud as an increasingly disturbed lady and a young innocent girl. I think I knew the outcome but wondered how it would resolve. I have to say I found the story and the telling deeply depressing but would have felt almost cowardly to "look away" as we so often do in society. Hopefully this will be made into a film to further increase our understanding of dementia in all its forms. Well done to Emma Healey for a brave story.
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21 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Nettlewine
- 13-10-14
Sensitive subject brought to life
What did you like most about Elizabeth Is Missing?
The sense of the main character's decline across the book, and the anxiety it brings out in the reader was incredibly deft and sensitively and accurately done.
What other book might you compare Elizabeth Is Missing to, and why?
Pretty wayward, but the world created most reminded of Franz Kafka's The Trial, with a single character roaming round and trying to make sense of the authorities. Except here, in this rather lighter-than-Kafka book, everyone is smiling and being kind to our central character, which is somehow just as claustrophobic.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
That where the central character was housed at her daughter's house, and her granddaughter started to take care of her.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
I think in the early stages, when Healey is setting out early instances of the main character's condition, when she comes to put a cup of tea down for a moment, and finds a row of cold cups of tea already there. Such a mournful, simple, beautifully rendered moment.
Any additional comments?
I feel I should point out one or two weaknesses: the scenes with Elizabeth's overbearing son did not ring true, and I feel the narrator really struggled with these,
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anne M
- 01-03-15
Pretty good
Rambled a bit, even though I know it was meant to.
I didn't work out the ending and to start thought Suki and Elizabeth were the same person.
Excellently read thank you.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jane Canini
- 11-02-15
moving and funny - extremely well written and read
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes absolutely - it was so well read - the reader managed to change her voice from old Maud, to young Maud and to other characters so convincingly - it was exceptional
Who was your favorite character and why?
Maud of course! So delightfully muddled but so sad too
Which scene did you most enjoy?
Reporting her lost "cat" - funny, frustrating and sad all at the same time
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
not really - too long for that, and lovely to come back to and pick up
Any additional comments?
I've never bothered to write a review before, despite listening to many, many brilliant books - but this hit a chord and I felt moved to write my first review!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth
- 01-05-20
just extraordinary
i've been inside the head of someone with dementia and it was as fascinating as it was distressing, and as touching as it was a lesson on patience . This is as beautiful as it is brave
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 23-07-21
What an incredible book!
Wonderful narration. Fascinating plot and scarily real. I feel like I want to meet Maud and give her a big cuddle!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- miss
- 02-10-19
Brilliant ❤️
A small insight into the complexities of dementia presented in a heartwarming and sometimes amusing way.
I have laughed, cried and sympathised with the whole story having been through it myself with my mother.
A must listen for anyone on this journey.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Frances Murphy
- 30-06-20
amazing narrator
good story but there were a few moments when I wished it had been edited more .
without such an excellent narrator there might have been confusion with the time shifts - but her young and old Maude's were easy to distinguish but believable as the same person.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Linn
- 31-07-15
Well written.
A very well written story jumping between the young Maud who's sister is missing and the old Maud who is convinced her friend Elizabeth is missing. The character Maud is very realistic and the reader was excellent at bringing her out. This is a story with many layers to it worth reading v
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Miss Lisa Broad
- 12-10-20
Emotional
An insight into dementia from the sufferers perspective makes this an emotionally tough listen at times. Not always the easiest to follow simply because of the jumble of information coming from Mauds mind but ultimately everything pieces together. I’m a fan of a happy ending but this was a little sad although, I imagine, realistic end. Overall a great listen which kept be captivated till the end.
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