Sunday 4 October 2015

Little Girl Gone - Alexandra Burt


A baby goes missing. But does her mother want her back?

When Estelle’s baby daughter is taken from her cot, she doesn’t report her missing. Days later, Estelle is found in a wrecked car, with a wound to her head and no memory.

Estelle knows she holds the key to what happened that night – but what she doesn’t know is whether she was responsible…

What did I think?

I quite enjoyed this, it was a relatively quick read but I didn't really warm to Estelle or Jack.  Estelle has a bit of a chip on her shoulder and expects to fail at everything so she doesn't realise that she is suffering from post-partum depression until it is too late.  Jack was a bit of a cold fish and doesn't really appear much in the book, I questioned whether he was even bothered that his daughter had gone missing.

I found it well written although sometimes I felt like it was a bit padded with more words than were necessary, for example: "something had gone amiss, had gone awry" - which is basically the same thing.  I think Alexandra Burt has chosen a difficult subject to write about, not only a child going missing but a mother suffering from post-partum depression.  The description of the effect of post-partum depression was written brilliantly and I think it was important to emphasise the help that psychiatric professionals can give in such cases, as people shouldn't suffer alone.

The story of the baby going missing is the main point of the book and I thought the addition of a few news articles within the book was a great idea.  I read the book quickly as I wanted to find out what had happened to Mia so the hook was there and I continued to be intrigued during Estelle's search for the truth.  The ending wasn't a disappointment, in fact I think it showed how far Estelle had come in her therapy - she never gave up looking for her daughter.

I did enjoy the book and I think it was a fascinating psychological analysis of a damaged young woman as she attempted to adapt to married life and motherhood.

I received this e-book from the publisher, Avon, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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