Emma Healy's 2014 debut novel, Elizabeth is Missing has an unlikely sleuth/protagonist. Maud Horsham is 82, struggling with dementia, and determined to find her missing friend, Elizabeth. Healy was inspired by her own grandmother who suffered from dementia and would often insist somebody was missing. Elizabeth Is Missing is a highly polished, well-crafted gem of a book. It links two mysteries together and is also a clear but compassionate look at sisters and friends, mothers and daughters. It illuminates, without judgment, how we treat the helpless elderly, those suffering from emotional disorders, and people with dementia. The story travels between the present and post WW2 Britain and the reader has to keep up with Maud's condition as she flits between the past and the present. It is a book of contradictions. What could have been a sad, bleak story about loss is actually about heroism and is infused with humor and spirit.

The prologue reveals Maud, standing in the dark garden, clutching an old compact that has been lost for nearly seventy years:

"Elizabeth?" Maud asks, "Did you ever grow summer squash?"

Certain key images are introduced in the prologue. Their significance becomes clearer as we progress. The memories follow erratically but surely as Maud starts to seek two missing women—Sukey, her sister, who disappeared in 1946, and Elizabeth, her friend, who seems to have gone missing recently:

"Elizabeth is the only friend I have left; the others are in homes or graves. ... I have an idea there was something I had to remember about Elizabeth."

As her grip on the present gradually weakens, Maud writes little notes to herself to aid her memory. "My paper memory. It's supposed to stop me forgetting things. But my daughter tells me I lose the notes. I have that written down, too.  ... And then I have this piece of paper tucked into my sleeve: No word from Elizabeth."

Armed with her notes and her fear that something may have happened to Elizabeth, Maud sets out to investigate. 

Please join me as we read Elizabeth Is Missing and feel free to post your comments and questions. See you next week!