I recommend this book and, apparently, so do 10,000 other people.Ellie Mack, a lovely teenager, the light of her mother’s life, disappears one day. They’re distinctly English and not overly suspenseful but they are a joy to read! This is my response to both of the Lisa Jewell books I’ve read: Then She Was Gone and The Family Upstairs. Final Recommendation on Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewellĭo you ever read a book, realize that you really liked it, but you can’t quite pinpoint why? You’ll have to read it to find out who they are…lest I spoil the plot.

These are just some of the principal characters in Then She Was Gone - and they’re not even the real juicy ones. Where Lisa Jewell excels, as she did so in The Family Upstairs, is with character development: the mom of Ellie, devastated by the loss of her favorite daughter the sister of Ellie, losing a sibling and left with a mom who always put her in second place the father of Ellie, who fails to succeed in sustaining a marriage to someone who cannot overcome her grief. If it did, we could summarize it in one-long-run-on sentence. The book does not rely exclusively on the plot. If you set the book aside for a moment, and consider the events at play and the various time sequences, you’ll probably arrive at the plot twist in your mind before it’s revealed in the text.īut, for me, this did not detract from the experience of Then She Was Gone. Divided into five parts, and narrated by various characters both then and now, the book gradually reveals the surprising plot twist. Ellie was days away from an idyllic post-exams summer vacation, with her whole life ahead of her. Beloved by her parents, friends, and teachers, and half of a teenaged golden couple. As we read on the Amazon page for the book:

The book begins with Ellie Mack, the perfect daughter. Book Summary: Then She Was Gone By Lisa Jewell So, let’s see if Then She Was Gone can take us there. The premise is sad and tragic and I prefer at least some measure of hope and promise.īut when you begin at such a low point, I suppose there’s really only one direction to go. Why? Well, it certainly doesn’t promise any uplifting experience. Ī book with a primary plot such as this - the disappearance of a young girl - would not typically be one that I would select. She was there one day…and Then She Was Gone. This book is about the disappearance of a young girl named Ellie. Of course, I thought, I have even reviewed The Family Upstairs, one of her recent novels and one I thoroughly enjoyed. When I began Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell, the writing and the Englishness of it all resonated with me: have I read a Lisa Jewell book before? Does that make it worth a read? Let’s find out! Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell has one juicy plot twist and several interesting, often cringeworthy, characters.

Then she was gone review