Daughter by Jane Shemilt
Genre: Crime/psychological/mystery
Jenny is a successful family doctor, the mother of three great teenagers, married to a celebrated neurosurgeon.
But when her youngest child, fifteen-year-old Naomi, doesn’t come home after her school play, Jenny’s seemingly ideal life begins to crumble. The authorities launch a nationwide search with no success. Naomi has vanished, and her family is broken.
As the months pass, the worst-case scenarios—kidnapping, murder—seem less plausible. The trail has gone cold. Yet for a desperate Jenny, the search has barely begun. More than a year after her daughter’s disappearance, she’s still digging for answers—and what she finds disturbs her. Everyone she’s trusted, everyone she thought she knew, has been keeping secrets, especially Naomi. Piecing together the traces her daughter left behind, Jenny discovers a very different Naomi from the girl she thought she’d raised.
My thoughts:
This novel isn’t quite crime in the way you usually read a crime genre novel. Though, thinking about it, it probably is, but because you are coming at it from a slightly backwards and forwards angle at the same time it has a completely different feel about it. You will also notice that under the genre category at the top, I’ve listed psychological and mystery, not just crime, because the book is more about these aspects, the effects on the family, than the missing child. And no-one really knows what, if any, crime had occurred other than they are looking for a missing child.
The story is told from the viewpoint of Jenny at the time just before, as Naomi goes missing, and after, then about 14 months later where you see the complete and devastating effect something like this has had on the family.
It’s a story of the unraveling of a family. As secrets are discovered and how in extreme circumstances you cope with those. What I found as the book continued to open up to me was how brilliantly Shemilt had woven everything together. It’s not easy running two different timelines and then planting the secrets waiting to be found out at a later point. It was done flawlessly.
At first I found Daughter a little difficult to get into and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I didn’t know what to expect or because the prose was so beautiful it just didn’t sit with me that this was going to be a great ‘mystery’ read. I’m one of those readers who think that there are too many books and not enough time, so I do put books down if I’m not enjoying them and I considered doing that, but something about Daughter was holding my attention and I’ll tell you what, I’m so glad it did. As I continued reading I became more and more sucked into Jenny’s world. Her sense of loss and her confusion as she found out she didn’t know the people closest to her were so beautifully and breathlessly portrayed I just couldn’t look away. I think I read the last third of the book in one day.
Do we find out what happened to Naomi on that fateful night, in the later timeline? I think that’s one for you to find out yourself. All I can say is that Jane Shemilt wrote this so beautifully, I will be thinking about this book for a while.
With thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and author for my copy.
I’ve had this sitting around for a bit – like you, not quite sure what sort of book it is! Think I’ll have to get to it soon!
It is a really great book. Better than the kind of vibes it gives off. I’d give it a try if I were you. Let me know what you think! 🙂
A friend bought me this for Christmas, really looking forward to it.
Another book on top of you 764! It is a good one though 🙂
I’ve been thinking about this book for some time. Will put on my purchase list.
It’s really well written and narrated and really moving Glynis. I think you’ll enjoy it. Let me know what you think if you do buy it.
It does sound more psychological than anything else.
It is because you’re with the mother all the time as she works through her emotions as her daughter is missing. It’s wonderful stuff.
I enjoyed the story but not the constant hitting the woman (Mother) over the head with guilt.
Yes, as if they don’t feel enough already!
The husband works long hours, isn’t there for his kids, doesnt cook a meal, has an affair, isn’t available for a police interview about his missing daughter because of his “important work”… and she is held totally responsible for everything …I was so shocked by this.
Yes, I did pick up on that, that she felt the guilt, but as a mother, I think you would feel that level of guilt anyway, but as a reader, maybe we don’t need to see quite so much?
Agree- As a mother you would feel guilt but not only did she feel it but she was held responsible …for everything that happened in their lives by everyone…kids, husband…a tad unfair…the husband played truant from the family home, spent many long days at work (or girlfriends) and was blameless, pity this heavy handedness spoiled it for me.
I know, I’ve just commented further down that she could have had a perfectly good relationship with at least one of her remaining kids and it wouldn’t have taken anything away from the book because the book held its own on the basis of the story of the missing child and the mothers reaction and family unit breakdown over such a long period of time which does tend to happen (the McCann’s are a break from the statistical norm).
Glad you enjoyed this so much, Rebecca. I’ve been hearing a lot about it, and it certainly sounds more like a psychological novel than a crime novel. Hmm……may have to give this one a go.
It’s a really good book Margot, I think you would probably enjoy it. You enjoyed The Cry didn’t you? It’s that kind of slow speed novel but well worked.
And that’s why it’s a shame when people say that ‘if it doesn’t grab me from the first page, I leave it’. Some novels just take longer to develop their aroma…
I’m definitely not a first page put downer, but I do put down. But I did see something in this that stopped me putting it down, so I think I have quite a good antenna for what I’m going to enjoy 🙂
I enjoyed this one as well. It was interesting to see how much the mother discovered over the course of time that she hadn’t known about her family. At some points, I was a little incredulous that she seemed so clueless, but I think that the idea is not uncommon. I mean, we don’t spend every minute with our families. I’d give this one a thumbs-up.
I think it’s especially true of teenagers. They’re a rare breed.
I couldn’t agree more. My daughter just moved into her first rented flat, and despite the fact that she’s an incredibly sensible girl (where did this come from?!) one can’t help but think of the things beyond their control, in the big bad world…My son’s work is near my parents’, so he has “digs” there, and helps out on the farm too. It’s reassuring my mum and dad keep an eye on him, and because he lives on an island there’s less danger, obviously. Girls are ALWAYS more of a worry, I think, for a multitude of reasons – and most of us were girls once too, so we know what they get up to!
It is absolutely terrifying bringing children up. Anything can happen to them and at any age!
This sounds like a heart-breaker. It’s the nightmare of every mother, what I worried about until my kids moved away and still worry about in a different way. Am I strong enough to read how this event destroys Jenny?
It is every mothers worst nightmare isn’t it? But yes, I do thing you’re strong enough to read it. I think it will really touch you, quite deeply but it’s beautiful. Let me know what you think if you do.
Great post, will add it to my to-read. x
Brilliant. Let me know what you thought.
This book annoyed me. It was gripping and I read it very quickly but it seemed to blame all the various children’s problems on the mother and the fact that she worked and had a hobby. Considering the information given about the author (a mother of 5, a GP, with a MA in creative writing and an author), either all her children are horrors and this is her public admittance of guilt or she just wants to make us all feel bad or inferior to her. It was certainly well written but I didn’t believe the mother deserved the treatment her children inflicted on her, at all. She clearly loved them and did a great deal for them, perhaps too much so they came to believe they alone should be the centre of her universe. And the father, well…
It’s a case of you’re damned if you do – and damned if you don’t – work like a lunatic and micro-manage your children’s lives – which inevitably leads to rebellion when they get time to themselves, say at Uni! Maybe it’s her worst fears personified! Or perhaps her children are horrors, but I’m sure she’d never admit it! It does make many people feel inferior, I think – but I’m sure as a GP she can afford plenty of help, or she has very obliging extended family (my parents were 100 miles away when my two were little, but that did mean the kids got dream holidays on the farm!) I love that you noticed that (I always read all the details and acknowledgements; I love to know which authors are chummy!)
Yes, it was sad that there were no redeeming features in her family unit at all for her. I think the story held its own on the missing daughter element and breakdown of the family without both the children hating the mother and not the father. It wasn’t needed for the story. She could have had a perfectly good relationship with at least one of them and it still have been a good read. 5 kids though! I find it hard enough with 2!