Paula Gleeson

This debut novel is filled with secrets and plot twists. It is hard to say anything about the story that isn't a spoiler. It was a fast-paced, compelling read.

The story is told from three main viewpoints. May and June are the twin daughters of Diana who recently passed away in a swimming pool accident. Then June disappears leaving May to try to find out what happened to her twin.

May and June are quite different characters being fraternal twins. May is quiet and introspective while June is loud and boisterous.

May's thread of the story begins one year after June's disappearance when she has come home for the empty casket funeral. She discovers a newspaper article which indicates that Diana also disappeared when she was nineteen. She was gone for three weeks and claimed ever afterward not to remember what happened to her while she was missing. One thing is certain though, she was or became pregnant during those missing three weeks.

This article comes as a complete surprise to May detailing a family past she had known nothing about. As she tries to find out more, she learns that many people were keeping secrets. As she talks to her grandmother Pat and her Aunt Sue she learns precious little and decides to investigate - with the help of June's clues.

As May searches, we get chapters from Diana with give us some information about her missing three weeks and about her raising May and June. We also get letters written by June to her dead mother detailing her own search for what happened to their mother nineteen years earlier. She's also trying to find out who her father was.

I enjoyed this story and was gobsmacked by all the twists and turns in this complicated plot. I liked the growth May shows as she progresses through this story.… (altro)