Here's a book I keep seeing in bookstores: The Year of Fog, by Michelle Redmond. I haven't pulled the trigger on it because it seems pretty stressful - Emma, a six year-old girl, vanishes on a beach in San Francisco while under the care of her stepmother, Abby. But then I read this review on Book Addiction, which was quite positive:
The Year of Fog is a pretty excellent novel. It has everything I desire in a book – great characters, an intriguing plot, a decent amount of suspense, good writing – what more is there for a girl to want? Michelle Richmond is a very talented author and I will definitely be looking for more from her in the future. Basically, from the moment I picked up the book, I hated having to pause my reading of it for any length of time… it sucked me in from the beginning and I couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next. One of the things that made this book so wonderful is how well the emotional rollercoaster of losing a child was written. I cannot imagine going through something so terrifying (especially considering the fact that I don’t even have any children) but what I can imagine is that Richmond wrote the way it would feel pretty darn accurately.
And here's more from the Caribou's Mom blog:
Michelle Richmond has written a book about guilt, fear, memory and hope. In Abby, she captures the raw emotions of making a mistake with dire consequences and the obsession to right the wrong. Richmond explores the confusing science of memory as Abby struggles to put together the pieces of what she may (or may not) have seen in order to solve the mystery of Emma’s disappearance. Perception and memory become intertwined with Abby’s art of photography and Richmond’s writing in these sections is poetic and beautifully wrought…. Richmond’s novel enthralls the reader from beginning to end. It is a page turner which begs to be read in one long gulp. It is a literary rollercoaster ride of despair and hope, joy and sadness. Richmond weaves together a convincing story of a family on the verge of destruction and one woman’s determination to find the child she loves.
Sounds like a good read. Would love to hear from others who have read it.