MADreads

My sleeper hit of 2008

December 18th, 2008 Katharine - Sequoya

British novelist Catherine O’Flynns’s What was Lost is my buried treasure. Set in 1980’s England this story revolves a young girl named Kate and her mysterious disappearance and how it relates to the local shopping mall Green Oaks.  That one sentence description doesn’t do this outstanding first novel justice though, here’s more about it.

Ten-year old Kate Meany lives with her grandmother and dreams of being a private investigator.  Her best friends are a 22-year-old son of a shopkeeper Adrian and a stuffed monkey that she takes on her stakeouts.  Kate’s grandmother wants to send her to a boarding school, but Kate would rather keep hanging out with her friend Teresa at her public school.  One afternoon when Kate reluctantly goes to take an admittance test for the boarding school, she disappears.  The ensuing investigation points towards Adrian, who had accompanied her on the bus the morning she went to take the test.  Adrian soon leaves town and “what happened to Kate?” is never resolved.

Fast forward twenty years to the Green Oaks shopping mall where Adrian’s sister Lisa is working a dead-end record store job.  She’s not happy, hasn’t talked to her brother in ages and has horrible relationships with the people around her, until she meets one of the Green Oaks security guards Kurt who has plenty of tragedy in his life also.  Their friendship brings great change in their lives and also helps solve the mystery of what happened to little Kate years ago.

If you are a fan of Kate Atkinson, this book is very similiar. O’Flynn’s writing is excellent and this first time novelist won the Costa Book Award and also was highly reviewed by the Guardian.  During this holiday shopping time when unfortunately many of us end up in malls, this book may make you look at people who are working and shopping there alittle bit differently this year.

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction, Mystery