Jane Standen is just 15 when a tragedy strikes – Lily, a
young girl she is watching, disappears into thin air while they are walking
through a woods. Lily’s father, a
widower, is not far ahead of them on the trail, but it is Jane who bears the
guilt of somehow losing sight of Lily in a critical moment. Twenty years later, Lily is still unaccounted
for and Jane, the daughter of a famous violinist, has given up the cello (although
she was a good musician, she never could satisfy her critical father) and
become an archivist at a small museum.
When the museum closes, Jane finds herself not only without a job or
prospects, but drawn back to the area where Lily disappeared. The last annual award the museum will be
giving is to Lily’s father for his book and Jane is not sure what will happen
when they meet again. The story sounds straightforward, but interwoven in the 21st
century story is that of another missing girl – a maid in an asylum, “The Hospital
for Convalescent Lunatics.” Ghostlike characters
from this mid-nineteenth century asylum are spiritually drawn to Jane and
surround her invisibly, talking amongst themselves. It’s all a little weird, but mostly works.
The ending, however, I found unsatisfying. 354 pp.
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