What was this book? A child goes missing, years later an identical child appears on the doorstep

[DaisyDreaming]

It’s driving me mad! It was quite a popular book, up to about 20 years ago, maybe 10-20 years ago? A mystery written for adults. A child goes missing (I believe a girl) and the mum grieves. One day a child turns up who is almost identical turns up except years have passed so it can’t be her. I’m sure it ends with the school playground being dug up and a body found under a new building or something. Does it ring any bells?

@ChessieFL

I don’t think this is the book you’re looking for, but The Deep End Of The Ocean by Jacqueline Mitchard has a similar-ish plot. Toddler Ben vanishes from a hotel, then 10 or so years later the mum spots a boy that looks just how Ben would look now. Not a mystery though, just about how they all cope with the situation.

Another similar ish one but more recent is *Haven’t They Grown’ by Sophie Hannah, where a woman sees a friend she hasn’t seen for ages and the woman is accompanied by two toddlers who look exactly the same as the toddlers she had 15 years ago. Again I don’t think that’s the one you’re looking for either though!

@ChessieFL that second book sounds SO creepy. Thanks for the recommendation. So many good ones on this thread.

@FlossMoss

Haven't they Grown by Sophie Hannah is the worst book I've ever read.

Omg I have just read this. I don't know why I persist with Sophie Hannah tbh, her conclusions are consistently terrible and nonsensical.

Another similar ish one but more recent is Haven’t They Grown’ by Sophie Hannah, where a woman sees a friend she hasn’t seen for ages and the woman is accompanied by two toddlers who look exactly the same as the toddlers she had 15 years ago. Again I don’t think that’s the one you’re looking for either though*!
Noooooooooo! Don't do it! It's so bad.

At least read some reviews.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Havent-They-Grown/product-reviews/B07YSSV2MM/ref=cmcrrdpddshowalllbtm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=allreviews

I just read a Sophie Hannah Poirot book.

I persevered as I wanted to know "whodunnit".

The why was bloody ridiculous though!

I've seen that film- made me v uneasy, quite chilling

I like Sophie Hannah and enjoyed ‘Haven’t They Grown’! I agree some of her plots are a bit bonkers but that’s why I like them - definitely not predictable.

@SomeOwlsCoo

No but it sounds good!

but we know the end now! Boo! Boooooo!

[quote Cherrysoup]@Andoffwego has it! ]][/quote]
@BrambleRoses had it at 07:26 this morning but nobody seemed to notice

OP still hasn’t come back to say if any of these suggestions are right!

Thank you, @Bluebellbike

Some great book recommendations here, although the Ben book seems a bit chillingly close to Ben needham?

@BrambleRoses

Thank you, *@Bluebellbike*

Some great book recommendations here, although the Ben book seems a bit chillingly close to Ben needham?

I thought that too! 🙈 Even the same name.

Sounds a bit like the plot of season 2 of The Missing!

@Heytheredemons
I wish I hadn’t googled! Christine’s story is horrific. Take him home and try him out for a week or two

@DaisyDreaming is it the one where the missing child's mother was murdered during the abduction, he later remarries and the story from the reappearance of the missing girl is told from the new wife's perspective? Set in Macclesfield or somewhere like that? Trying to remember what it was called. There was a sequel too.

@BrambleRoses

Thank you, *@Bluebellbike*

Some great book recommendations here, although the Ben book seems a bit chillingly close to Ben needham?

The child has the same name and is taken from a hotel but that’s where the similarities with the Needham case end. The Deep End Of The Ocean is American and published in 1997 so it’s unlikely the author was aware of the Ben Needham story (the story rightly got lots of attention here because the Needham family was British but I doubt it got the same level of attention in America) and as I said it’s not actually similar anyway. The child is taken from a city hotel rather than a resort and you do find out what happens to the child in the story which sadly we never have in the real life case, and the story is nothing like what is thought to have happened in the Needham case. Just in case that was putting anyone off reading it, because it is a great book!

Haven't they grown is utterly dire, it was like the author got fed up after a bit and just wrote a load of drivel and a ridiculous ending.
Save your money!

Placemark for reading ideas

Tbf Haven't They Grown is dire from the beginning. Lots of middle-class waffling about the narrator's teenagers and their love of phones and romantic trials.

It's lines like this that tip me over the edge.

His music teacher described him as a ‘bass’ the other day, and it gave me a strange, dislocated feeling. My sweet little boy, a bass – the lowest and most booming kind of male voice there is. How did that happen?

Be as banal as you like, but when you stoop to defining perfectly common terms for your adult readership because you think they're congenital thickos, books will be thrown against walls.

This one, Safe by S K Barnett, popped up on Bookbub today. I.don't think it's what the Op is looking for but I've added it and a few others mentioned here to my list of books to check out. Who knew there so many about missing kids!

@ABitBesottedWithMyDog

Tbf Haven't They Grown is dire from the beginning. Lots of middle-class waffling about the narrator's teenagers and their love of phones and romantic trials.

Oh absolutely. It wasn't just the end. Actually the middle was the worst bit. The bit with the teacher and the sandwich. I was listening to it on audio book and I honestly thought I'd started a new book by mistake. It was so nonsensical. 🥪

Can’t help to identify the OP’s book, but I totally agree with the posters who thought ‘Haven’t They Grown?’ was utter rubbish.

Strangely a new film seen reviewed today called " Here Before" starring Andrea Riseborough, sounds as if it has a very similar theme!

Some Kind of Fairytale by Graham Joyce. Haven’t read it and don’t want too either.