Review: Emily Gone by Bette Lee Crosby

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 400

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  

1971.

When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed. On the final night, a storm muffles the sound of the blaring music, and Rachel tucks her baby into bed before falling into a deep sleep. So deep, she doesn’t hear the kitchen door opening. When she and her husband wake up in the morning, the crib is empty. Emily is gone.

Vicki Robart is one of the thousands at the festival, but she’s not feeling the music. She’s feeling the emptiness over the loss of her own baby several months before. When she leaves the festival and is faced with an opportunity to fill that void, she is driven to an act of desperation that will forever bind the lives of three women.

When the truth of what actually happened that fateful night is finally exposed, shattering the lives they’ve built, will they be able to pick up the pieces to put their families back together again?

Kritters Thoughts:  A small town in Georgia is invaded when a large music festival is planned on the outskirts of town.  There is worry that this will bring the wrong sorts of people to town, but everyone is convinced that the economic boom will outweigh the annoyance for the short term.  One family is gravely impacted by this festival as they wake up one morning and their beautiful baby girl has gone missing.  

With alternating chapters from different perspectives, the reader knows early on where this child has been taken and by whom, so the story is more about the impact after such a tragedy.  It was hard not to feel for the kidnappers and see the impact of tragedy on their decisions and how easily someone can make wrong choices and convince themselves that it is all okay.    

This book was the perfect companion for a work trip with a flight and some quiet time in a hotel to curl up and read about this family in a small town as they learn to live with their new normal.    My first Bette Lee Crosby, but for sure will not be my last.  I loved how she pulled this story together and her characters were so fully formed that I could see them walking in my front door to share this story themselves.  

Rating: