Just Jennifer

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey (Harper, June 10, 2014)

Maud is an elderly woman who is rapidly descending further into dementia: she has more canned peaches than she will ever eat and is certain her best friend Elizabeth is missing.  No one will listen to her leaving her more and more frustrated.  As she frantically searches for her friend she begins to drift into the past where she relives the disappearance of her sister who vanished just after World War II.  Is it possible that Maud's search for Elizabeth will help her find the key to her sister's disappearance?  The plot flows back and forth between post-World War II England and present day, no small feat for an unreliable narrator who is slowly losing her mind.  A certain amount of suspense comes from knowing that dementia may touch all of us at one point or another in our lives, either a parent, spouse, sibling or friend, if not ourselves.  Touching and honest, Elizabeth is Missing spans several genres, providing a good read that will offer many discussion topics.