Starred review from January 11, 2016
British single mother Beth knows her eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, has a tendency to wanderâat a local corn maze, on school tripsâbut one foggy day, the girl vanishes at a local festival and cannot be found. A man who claims to be Carmel's grandfather convinces her that Beth has been in a terrible accident, so Carmel leaves the fairgrounds with him and winds up at a secluded home with the man and his female companion, Dorothy. As Beth frantically searches and slowly isolates herself from the outside world, Carmel is told after careful manipulation that her mother has died, and soon finds herself in America with her new "grandparents," who work as spiritualist healers. Carmel fights to remember her past, but as time passes and she crisscrosses the country, her old life begins to fade. It takes everything in her to remember her name, her address, and her parents. Hamer's spectacular debut skillfully chronicles the nightmare of child abduction. Telling the story in two remarkable voices, with Beth's chapters unfurling in past tense and Carmel's in present tense, the author weaves a page-turning narrative. The trajectories of the novel's two leadsâthrough despair, hope, and redemptionâare believable and nuanced, resulting in a morally complex, haunting read.
Starred review from May 30, 2016
Beth is a divorced mom in England who lives in fear that her eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, who has a tendency to wander, will go missing. Her nightmare comes true when a wily, fanatical preacher kidnaps Carmel and takes her to America. The chapters alternate between Beth’s heartbreaking search for her daughter and attempts to continue life without her, and Carmel’s strange adventure and struggle to adapt, survive, and maintain her identity far from home. Voice actress Beamish’s narration is superb, particularly in Carmel’s chapters: at first, she narrates in a child’s voice, but gradually she begins to sound like a teenager, and then, eventually, she starts to speak in an American accent. Beamish also perfectly conveys Carmel’s personality and thought process: she is a naive child, yet also observant and intelligent, trying to piece things together and learn the truth, and determined to hold on to her true name, identity, and memories no matter what. In Beth’s chapters, Beamish vividly conveys the heartbreaking sorrow, fear, hope, and guilt of a mother who has lost her child. The excellent voice narration makes this riveting novel even more powerful on audio. A Melville House hardcover.
Starred review from May 1, 2016
Hamer and narrator Antonia Beamish offer edge-of-your-seat listening in this debut. Set in England and the United States and told by mother/daughter narrators in alternating chapters, the work is fraught with suspense and a pervasive sense of dread. Eight-year-old Carmel is kidnapped from her small English town; Beth, her recently divorced, very insecure mother, is bereft. Carmel finds herself in the company of a shady preacher and his entourage as they travel across the States. Hamer reveals a complex plot as the victims are molded into survivors by fear, despair, growth, courage, and acceptance. Outstanding characterization by Beamish contributes to listeners' empathy and concern for Beth and Carmel. VERDICT Listeners will find themselves thinking of this novel for a while. ["Hamer...is a natural storyteller who writes with such a sense of drama, compulsion, and sympathy that most readers will devour this work in one or two sittings": LJ 2/1/16 starred review of the Melville House hc.]--Sandra C. Clariday, Cleveland, TN
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.