The Lost Girls by Kate Hamer

                                                   

Paperback:  361 pages      

Genre: Fiction, Thriller,                                           

Publisher:  Faber and Faber 2023

Source: Tywyn Public Library

First Sentences: No one ever knew what happened to Mercy Roberts

Review Quote: At once deeply unsettling and profoundly hopeful, Kate Hamer's follow-up to The Girl in the Red Coat is a novel about loss, healing and redemption. ― Women's Weekly

Setting: U.S.A. and England

My Opinion:  

I was introduced to this authors writing back in 2017 when she came to Tywyn to speak at a Literary Dinner. Since then I have continued to take an interest in her work.  Having read the prequel ‘The Girl in the Red Coat’ to this latest novel it was imperative I read ‘The Lost Girls.’ Although it is a stand alone story, I personally appreciated the fact that I had read the previous novel.

Three traumatised protagonists, Carmel Mercy and Beth relate their stories to the reader.  Carmel was abducted as a young child then eight years later she is reunited with her mother Beth. A guilt ridden mother and a troubled daughter who have trouble not surprisingly relating to each other.  Carmel also frequently dreams of another lost child and carries out a heart breaking search for answers.

What a haunting tale!  I do find Kate Hamer’s style of writing rather disturbing, but her novels including this one are always captivating. I do not hesitate in recommending this author.

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

Beth is desperate to return to normality. After a years-long ordeal, her daughter is finally home and safe. But Carmel has questions she can't ignore about the cult that kidnapped her, and about the preacher who gave her another girl's name.

Found, she must survive a miracle.

Digging into her past, Carmel uncovers secrets which suggest that she wasn't the only lost girl - and which puts her in danger all over again. While her mother struggles to salvage the safety they've only just found, Carmel tries to come to terms with who she has become. One question, a mystery at the heart of her disappearance as a child, haunts her:

What happened to the other lost girls?

Previous Reviews: The Girl in the Red Coat.    Crushed.

Author Profile:                

                                                               

                                                      Courtesy of Goodreads

Kate Hamer is also the author of CRUSHED (2019) and  THE DOLL FUNERAL (2017) which was a Bookseller book of the month and an editor's pick for Radio 4's Open Book. Her first novel THE GIRL IN THE RED COAT (Faber & Faber, 2015) was shortlisted for The Costa First Novel Prize, the British Book Industry Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, the John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger and the Wales Book of the Year. It was a Sunday Times bestseller and has been translated into 18 different languages. Kate grew up in the West country and rural Pembrokeshire and now lives with her husband in Cardiff.

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites:

Amazon Author Page  Twitter - Kate Hamer  Kate Hamer - Official Author Website 

 Goodreads -Author Profile  Kate Hamer - Instagram

The Girl In The Red Coat by Kate Hamer

Paperback: 375 pages                                                                                                 
Genre: Thriller Mystery
Publisher: Faber and Faber 2015
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentence: I dream about Carmel often.
Review Quote:  Hamer’s novel aims to be more than a thriller, and the real heart of the book is not its suspense, but its explorations of grief and how we weather it. The Guardian
Literary Awards: Shortlisted for The Costa First Novel Prize, the British Book Industry Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, the John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger and the Wales Book of the Year
My Opinion: This title was read for one of my book groups. The standard of the writing and the fact I wanted to know the outcome made this a readable story but not one that particularly enthralled me. Maybe my expectations were raised by the fact that other members of my book group were particularly excited to be reading this novel. Also the author is coming to Tywyn in March to speak at a Literary Dinner. It will certainly be interesting to hear her speak and I am sure people will have some interesting questions for her.

The way the story is told from both the point of view of both protagonists is gripping and it was certainly not what I expected. Beth is the devastated mother desperately trying to rebuild her life after the abduction of her daughter and the story alternates between her telling of her experiences and those of Carmel, as a man claiming to be her grandfather whisks her away to a new and very strange life!  There are certainly many unexplained things in this world but it is with Carmel's so called gift which I found difficulty coping with, making the story less plausible for me. Although despite my nagging doubts it was Carmel's sections of the novel that held my interest far more.

The final scenes of the novel I found something of an anti-climax because they were dealt with in such an abrupt manner, I  personally needed much more to be made of it and was left feeling disappointed.  This though should not put you off reading as if you are looking for something different from the normal abduction tale then this may well be for you.




Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

She is the missing girl. But she doesn't know she's lost.

Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children's festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, 8-year-old Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift...

While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is - and who she might become.



Video Trailer for 'The Girl In The Red Coat ' Courtesy of YouTube

Author Kate Hamer appears at Tonyrefail Arts Festival 2015 to discuss her debut novel 'The Girl in the Red Coat'. [Amateur Footage] This is a long video at 36 minutes but if you have the time, it is well worth a listen.


Author Profile

Kate Hamer's first novel 'The Girl in the Red Coat' (Faber & Faber, 2015) was shortlisted for The Costa First Novel Prize, the British Book Industry Awards Debut Fiction Book of the Year, the John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger and the Wales Book of the Year. It was a Sunday Times bestseller and has been translated into 16 different languages. Kate won the Rhys Davies Short Story Prize and she has had short stories published in anthologies such 'A Fiction Map of Wales', 'New Welsh Short Stories' and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She's written articles and reviews for The Independent, The Mail on Sunday and The New York Times. Kate grew up in the West country and rural Pembrokeshire and now lives with her husband in Cardiff. Her second novel, to be published by Faber & Faber in February 2017, is 'The Doll Funeral'.


Photographs, Trailer and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.


Amazon Author Page      Goodreads Author Profile       YouTube Video    

   Facebook - Literature and Lasagne           Kate Hamer - Author's Official Website.