Review Elizabeth is Missing Emma Healey
Many will have seen the excellent 2019 BBC drama Elizabeth is Missing, starring Glenda Jackson as an elderly dementia sufferer searching for her friend, but perhaps not all will have known that this was a dramatisation of a book of the same name. I first became aware of this when I saw the book in the Library, and was interested to read it to see how close the story was to the drama. It often happens in adaptations for film or television that significant parts of a book are cut in order to streamline a production, and this was the case here. The book features more detail and additional side plots, making a very satisfying read. The story centres around Maud, an elderly lady with dementia, and her daughter and granddaughter who try to care for her. Maud’s condition means that she has very little short term memory, but still has clear memories of when she was a girl growing up. Maud is very worried because her friend Elizabeth is not at home. She visits over and over again, still finding her not there, but can’t seem to convince anyone that Elizabeth is missing. As the story develops we gradually find out what happened to her, and another mystery from the past is also uncovered and eventually solved. The story is narrated by Maud herself, giving a unique insight into what it must be like to suffer from this condition, and what might prompt some of the well-recorded strange behaviours of dementia sufferers. The character of her daughter is also well-drawn, and the glimpses we have of her frustration at Maud’s actions and her wish to find ways to care for her while still holding onto a full-time job ring very true. The book is absorbing on two levels. The mysteries are gripping and Maud’s attempts to solve them (with no memory of the actions she has taken before) are heartbreaking. At the same time, as the book progresses, Maud’s condition advances and deteriorates until at the end she no longer recognises her own family and, now unable to read, sees reminder notes which she had previously written for herself as mysterious pieces of paper with marks on. This book is well worth reading, even for those
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Emma Healey
who already know the ending, as the extra detail gives additional perspective to the story. It well-deserved the Costa First Novel Award which it won. The combination of the gradually unfolding mysteries and Maud’s limited perception of events as they happen is gripping, drawing the reader into the situation and, at least in my case, prompting a wish to get in there and help her! An excellent book, highly recommended. Christine Orchard
The Anarchy The Relentless Rise of the East India Company William Dalrymple
Professionally, Britain’s great historian William Dalrymple has won many awards and honours; personally, he possesses great literary gifts and vast experience. This book, published in 2019 for the general reader, was a Sunday Times Bestseller. I found the recommendations listed on the jacket by Dalrymple’s respected fellow writers to be statements of truth, including: “An outstandingly gifted historian” (Max Hastings); “Dalrymple researches like an historian, thinks like an anthropologist and writes like a novelist” (Maya Jasanoff). A few minutes spent adopting a bird’s-eye view of the book’s layout – enjoyable and enchanting in itself – will repay great dividends: clarity and the readers’ needs are central for the author. There are nine chapters and the Introduction makes clear what is to come: “This book does not aim to provide a history of the East India Company, still less an economic analysis of its business operations. Instead it is an attempt to answer the question of how a single business operation, based in one London
