Portobello Book Blog

A rare review from me of a book which has been out for a few years. The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde by Eve Chase was published by Penguin in 2017. I borrowed it from my local library (Portobello Library) which you can see in the photo above and have been reading it for my book group.

About the book

When four sisters arrive at Applecote Manor to spend the summer, all is clearly not well.

They find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their only daughter, five years before. No one seems any closer to finding out the truth.

Why did Audrey vanish? Who is keeping her fate secret?

As the sisters are lured into the mystery of their missing cousin, the stifling summer takes a shocking, deadly turn.

One which will leave blood on their hands, and put another girl in danger decades later ...

My Thoughts

This is the first of Eve Chase’s novels I’ve read and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoy books set across two different time frames with a bit intrigue and this certainly delivered. I enjoyed both strands of the story equally and got caught up in each part as the chapters alternated between past and present. At the heart of the story is the mysterious disappearance of Audrey Wilde. She is the cousin of Margot and her three sisters who go to stay with their aunt and uncle at Applecote Manor one summer. Fifty or so years later, Jessie moves from London to the rundown manor with her husband, young daughter and step-daughter unaware of the disappearance and the way the house is still viewed uneasily by the locals.

One focus of the book is the very different family situations portrayed. In the late fifties, Flora, Pam, Margot and Dot have lived just with their rather unorthodox mother, as their father has died. When their mother goes off to work in Paris for a bit, that’s when they go to stay with their aunt and uncle. Not surprisingly, their aunt and uncle are still traumatised by the disappearance of their daughter, with their aunt in particular having become something of a recluse. I really felt quite sorry for her as I can’t imagine what it must be like to not know what has happened to a missing child. In the present day, we have another kind of blended family. Will’s wife had died so Jessie is trying to parent truculent teen Bella as well as being the mother to young toddler Romy. I certainly had sympathy for her as Bella just did not respond well to her at all. Of course, poor Bella was still mourning her mother and taking it out on Jessie. The lasting effects of Audrey’s disappearance on the wider family and community are clear to see.

I found this a really compelling read. I really wanted to find out what had happened to Audrey and also what was going to happen with the four sisters. Equally, in the present day, I was eager to find out how the family situation would resolve itself for Jessie and just how the past would connect with the present.

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde is an unsettling read with a sense of imminent danger throughout. I thought it was perfectly paced and the author kept me wanting to turn those pages and find out what was going to happen. It’s a great story about secrets and sisters, mothers and mysteries.

About the Author

Eve Chase writes rich, page-turning mysteries set in beautiful places, thick with secrets. Her latest novel, The Birdcage came out in 2022. The Glass House was a Sunday Times bestseller, Richard and Judy Book Club pick and word-of-mouth lockdown hit. Longlisted for the HWA Gold Crown award 2018, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde went on to become a number three Amazon bestseller. In 2019, Black Rabbit Hall won the Saint-Maur en Poche prize in Paris for Best Foreign Fiction. Before writing novels, Eve worked as a journalist in magazines and newspapers. Married with three children, she lives in Oxford, alongside a very hairy golden retriever called Harry.

Say hello on Instagram and Twitter @EvePollyChase and facebook.com/EveChaseAuthor. For press reviews and more detail about her books visit evechase.com