Mackenzie’s mum Maggie is a bat specialist, who
sets out on a trip to the jungles of Panama and never returns. She is now
missing without a trace. After 114 days missing, dad drags Mackenzie with him
to Panama to search for Maggie. He hides many secrets from the thirteen year
old who has just started at college. So does her Nan. This undercurrent keeps
tension high throughout the book.
This is the story of trauma suffered by the
families and loved ones of missing people. It is the unpeeling of hidden truths,
lives put on hold and measured by days missing, and the exhausting lengths
people will go to in order to find their lost ones.
Sue Whiting has dug deep to present vivid
portrayals of the anguish, destruction of family life, the suppositions,
regrets and what ifs, experienced by family members who cling to memories and
try to hope when there is no hope left.
She has created another brilliant novel to match
her stunning and unforgettable Portraits
of Celina. Her writing is crisp,
deeply moving and succeeds in drawing the reader into the unbearable agony of
loss and grief that the people left behind experience.
In Australia each year, approximately 1600 people
are classed as long-term missing. These disturbing statistics force the reader
to question where they disappear to, why, and who takes part in this
disappearance? Whiting’s novel provides many possibilities in the course of the
story, but in reality, for many, the answer is a mystery.
Superbly crafted in now and then time, this
powerful novel reflects on how lives shatter and hearts break with sorrow from
lack of knowing.
Title:
Missing
Author:
Sue Whiting
Publisher:
Walker Books
Publication
Date: March 2018, $17.99
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9781760650032
For
ages: 10+
Type:
Middle Fiction
