Whistle in the Dark, Emma Healey
Whistle in the Dark, Emma Healey
12 Rating(s)
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Whistle in the Dark
A Novel

Author: Emma Healey

Narrator: Julia Deakin, Laura Aikman

Unabridged: 10 hr 45 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 07/24/2018


Synopsis

Emma Healey follows the success of her #1 internationally bestselling debut novel Elizabeth Is Missing, winner of the Costa First Novel Award, with this beautiful, thought-provoking, and psychologically complex tale that affirms her status as one of the most inventive and original literary novelists today.Jen and Hugh Maddox have just survived every parent’s worst nightmare.Relieved, but still terrified, they sit by the hospital bedside of their fifteen-year-old daughter, Lana, who was found bloodied, bruised, and disoriented after going missing for four days during a mother-daughter vacation in the country. As Lana lies mute in the bed, unwilling or unable to articulate what happened to her during that period, the national media speculates wildly and Jen and Hugh try to answer many questions.Where was Lana? How did she get hurt? Was the teenage boy who befriended her involved? How did she survive outside for all those days? Even when she returns to the family home and her school routine, Lana only provides the same frustrating answer over and over: ""I can’t remember.""For years, Jen had tried to soothe the depressive demons plaguing her younger child, and had always dreaded the worst. Now she has hope—the family has gone through hell and come out the other side. But Jen cannot let go of her need to find the truth. Without telling Hugh or their pregnant older daughter Meg, Jen sets off to retrace Lana’s steps, a journey that will lead her to a deeper understanding of her youngest daughter, her family, and herself.A wry, poignant, and masterfully drawn story that explores the bonds and duress of family life, the pain of mental illness, and the fraught yet enduring connection between mothers and daughters, Whistle in the Dark is a story of guilt, fear, hope, and love that explores what it means to lose and find ourselves and those we love.

About Emma Healey

Emma Healey grew up in London where she studied for her first degree in bookbinding. She then worked for two libraries, two bookshops, two art galleries and two universities, before completing an MA in Creative Writing at the University East Anglia. Her first novel, Elizabeth is Missing, was published to critical acclaim in 2014, became a Sunday Times (London) bestseller and won the Costa First Novel Award. She lives in Norwich, England with her husband and daughter.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Deanna

My reviews can also be seen at: [URL not allowed] “This has been the worst week of my life” was the first thing, Jen said as paramedics wheeled her daughter, Lana into the hospital. It wasn’t the first thing she had planned on saying after such a terrifying ordeal. Jen and Lana......more

Goodreads review by Esil

3.5 stars Whistle in the Dark felt like a donut read to me. I loved the beginning, the middle felt kind of empty, and I loved the end. The story is told from Jen’s perspective. Her 15 year old daughter Lana has recently disappeared for 4 days without any explanation as to what happened to her during......more

Goodreads review by Rachel

Whistle in the Dark begins with one of the most enticing premises of anything I've read all year: when Jen Maddox and her fifteen-year-old daughter Lana are away on holiday in the English countryside, Lana goes missing for exactly four days, and after she's found, she claims to have no memory of wha......more

Goodreads review by Louise

Men's fifteen year old daughter goes missing for four agonising days. When Lana is found unharmed, everyone thinks the worst is over. But Lana refuses to tell anyone what happened. Jen, Hugh, Meg and Lana are just an average, middle class family. Jen is devastated when Lana goes missing while on a pa......more

Goodreads review by Kristy

Jen Maddox is on holiday with her fifteen-year-old daughter, Lana, when Lana disappears. But, somehow, Lana is found four days later: confused and bloody, but in one piece. Jen and her husband, Hugh, are beyond relieved, but Jen cannot shake the fear plaguing her. Lana has struggled with depression......more