Book Review

The Girl Who Disappeared by James Lingard #BookReview #ClinkStreetPublishing #4*

THE GIRL WHO DISAPPEARED a fact based historical novel

Britain in the 1930s; a novel inspired by real events; eloping; WW2.

Emily falls passionately in love with working class Walter, despite fierce opposition from her class conscious father. She sees marriage as a partnership of equals and resolves to elope to escape such a male dominated society.

Emily’s actions will see her struggle to survive the subsequent devastation brought about by the war, as she and her four year old son are thrown into the midst of danger and death. The family experience rationing and the terror of bombing. Their air raid shelter is destroyed by a direct hit.

When Walter volunteers for the army, Emily and her son are evacuated to a rat infested cottage in a farming community near Hebden Bridge.

The war changes Walter into an efficient army officer who demands to be obeyed. Emily worries that she might have a rival for his affections. How can she restore their loving relationship?

The Girl Who Disappeared is a moving love story about one woman’s enduring resilience, a story full of quiet humour and surprising twists and turns.

Very Enjoyable!

A glimpse back to a time in Britain when men ruled and women were expected to obey.

Emily falls in love with Walter but she knows that her father will never approve their union. He considers her fiance to be from a lower class and expects his daughter to follow his rules, but Emily has no intention of giving up on love and plans to elope. She wants her union to be a marriage of equals, but when Walter returns from serving during the war he takes decisions without asking for her input and she wonders if she’s made a grave error. Can she get their relationship back on an equal footing?

It’s no surprise that this is a fact based tale; I definitely had the feeling that there was more than a bit of truth in this one. I really liked Emily, and felt for her having to live under her father’s strictness. I loved that the dialogue reflected the more proper manner of speech employed in the thirties and forties, it all added to the authenticity. Marriage isn’t always what we dream it will be; it takes a bit of work as demonstrated here. This is a well-written account of two people in love, and how things turn out for them. Very enjoyable and one I’m happy to recommend to all lovers of a good WWII story. 4*.

My thanks to the author for bringing my attention to his novel which I downloaded via Kindle Unlimited; this is – as always – my honest, original and unbiased review.

Tags: historical romance, WWII

Author Details

James Lingard – educated at Dulwich College and University College London – was a partner in Norton Rose, a leading firm of City of London solicitors. He became Chairman of both the Banking Law and the Insolvency Law Sub Committees of the City of London Law Society.
A former Council Member of the Association of Business Recovery Professionals and of the European Association of Insolvency Practitioners, he was appointed a Judicial Chairman of the Insolvency Practitioners Tribunal. The founding President of the Insolvency Lawyers Association, he also chaired the Joint Insolvency Examination Board.
The 7th edition of Lingard’s Bank Security Documents (LexisNexis) was published on 10th December 2019.

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