LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
It’s 2018 and poor Edie is haunted by the disappearance of her best friend, Lucy. She vanished over sixty years ago and Edie knows that deep down she holds a secret that could help solve her puzzling disappearance. As an increasingly forgetful 84-year-old, there are many memories Edie struggles to keep hold of – but the mystery surrounding Lucy isn’t one she’s prepared to give up on easily. Utterly compelling, darkly unnerving and a joyful masterclass in storytelling, Emily Critchley’s debut adult novel hits the mark on so many levels. The wonderfully fragmented narrative echoes Edie’s growing state of confusion, and the menacing build-up of tension towards the novel’s dramatic climax is almost unbearable at times. But what shines most is the portrait of Edie herself; you can’t fault her loyalty, wisdom and kindness as a young girl, and you continue to admire her resilience and determination over sixty years later. She’s an absolute diamond – and one of the most sensitively drawn characters I’ve had the pleasure to meet on paper in a long time. Critchley’s portrayal of her as a young girl is painstakingly authentic, capturing the emotional ups and downs of teenage life to a tee. And as an adult in the throes of dementia, her character is just as multi-layered … and endearing. Memory loss is an emotive subject for any writer to tackle. It could be easy to create a story that drifts towards the negative, but by wrapping it up in such a gripping mystery, with heart-warming characters, One Puzzling Afternoon manages to keep the full range of emotions in play – you’ll cry, you’ll chuckle and there are times you won’t dare turn the page.
Lindsay Quayle
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One Puzzling Afternoon Synopsis
On a suburban street filled with secrets, 84 year old Edie Green must look back into the past to discover what happened to her friend Lucy, who went missing years before . . .
A mystery she can't remember. A friend she can't forget.
I kept your secret Lucy. I've kept it for more than sixty years . . .
It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother - who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community - she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.
When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .
Then Lucy goes missing.
2018. Edie is eighty-two and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago . . .
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781804181256 |
| Publication date: |
25th May 2023 |
| Author: |
Emily Critchley |
| Publisher: |
Bonnier Books Ltd |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
400 pages |
| Primary Genre |
General Fiction
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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Press Reviews
Emily Critchley Press Reviews
Completely captivating. A real page turner. Eighty-two year old Edie is a wonderful protagonist, desperate to solve the mystery of her friend's disappearance sixty years earlier. - Louise Hare
Marvellous . . . a special gem of a book, a perfectly executed double timeline mystery with a twist you don't see coming. One Puzzling Afternoon has one of the most unusual and endearing protagonists in recent crime fiction. In this dual time-line novel, Emily Critchley wonderfully weaves together a modern crime narrative with the sunny, idyllic childhood memories of her protagonist. Post-war nostalgia is perfectly evoked - until the darkness at the edges of Edie's and Lucy's story draws is quickly like a summer storm. As Edie slowly unveils the lies and secrets surrounding Lucy's disappearance, she must confront difficult memories of her own childhood, and the terrors it held. One Puzzling Afternoon is a dark and delightful lock box of riddles, secrets and memories. A spellbinding novel that enchants and unnerves in equal measure. - Inga Vesper, author of The Long, Long Afternoon
An uplifting, bittersweet story with a page-turning mystery at its heart. Emily Critchley writes about ageing and memory with huge warmth and compassion, and I was drawn in to Edie's world from the very first page. A beautifully atmospheric and endearing book. - Freya Sampson
