1995 – 15-year-old Emma sends her family a bunch of flowers and disappears. Her best friend Kate blames herself.
That night in west Wales, Idris and his son find a crashed car, a teenage girl and a
man trying to kill her. The girl can’t remember who she is. Their neighbour says it’s her missing daughter, Alys, finally home, and takes her in.
Twenty years later, a body is found during renovations at a local park where Emma was last seen. Kate believes that she has, at last, found the end of Emma’s story; instead, it is only the beginning, as finally secrets will have to be faced.
A family
mystery about escaping, finding home, and what- or who-is left behind.
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Author Bio –
Sarah Reynolds is an award-winning bilingual writer. Originally from Surrey, Sarah moved to Carmarthen in 2009.
She’s written two Welsh-language novels: Dysgu Byw and Cyffesion Saesnes yng Nghymru. Her short story, ‘Catch of the Day’ won the Rhys Davies Short Story prize and the short film adaptation, Helfa’r Heli won a BAFTA Cymru award.
She has written numerous short stories, articles and scripts. Traces of Alys came second place in the Bridport Novel Prize. She is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Swansea University, and lives with her family in Carmarthen.
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My thoughts: This is a fascinating read full of doubles and duality – two countries, two languages, two Alys’, two lives.
When a car crash in Wales returns Alys to her mother, even though she has strange memories of another life, she never lets on that she might not be Alys after all. Learning Welsh, she becomes a poet, famous in that country but unknown beyond its borders.
In Surrey Kate is convinced her best friend Emma’s body is that found buried in the park, when it turns out to be another missing girl, it reignites her determination to find out what became of her friend.
As we move between narratives of the past and present, from England to Wales and back again, we learn why a teenage girl might want to leave her life and what became of Alys.
Clever and enjoyable, I was hooked, I liked Kate and Alys, they had both lived their own mysteries, and by resolving the questions around them were able to move onto a happier, more rounded life free of what ifs.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
