The Vanishing of Katharina Linden

It's very fitting that my first post after the one about giving up on 2009 books is my thoughts on a 2009 book. :-)

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is a book by Helen Grant, an English woman living in Brussels, which is where I live. The book was on display in our local bookstore and I loved the idea of finally getting to read a local author, since I don't read French or Dutch, so I bought it immediately. The story sounded good too, something about girls vanishing in a small German town. Spooky.

I wasn't expecting it to be a page-turner. But it was. I don't want to talk about the plot too much, not to give anything away, but it held my interest all the way through. The story is told by Pia, daughter of a German father and an English expat mother. Pia is around 17 when she tells the story but the events themselves take place when she is 10 years old and she and her family are living in a small picturesque German town.

The only thing I will say is that the book had me pretty scared, scared enough not to want to read it in the evenings if I was alone, because I tend to get nightmares... just because it's about a 10-year-old is it really a YA book??

Being an expat myself, I really liked that aspect of the story too - the way the English mother is portrayed as she tries to fit into German society, with the different customs and everything. There aren't many books that deal with this.

Anyway, I would totally recommend this one to you. I read it in no time and loved it - it's definitely going on my list of faves at the end of the year. Plus you'll be reading something that is probably not very well-known (yet) where you live, which makes things interesting too!

Challenges: 999 Challenge, Suspense and Thriller Challenge