Mumsnet book club: January book of the month, Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. Join the discussion and put your questions to author Emma Healey on Wednesday 28 January, 9-10pm.

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Our January choice is a debut novel that comes with a whole heap of accolades: ELIZABETH IS MISSING is currently shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2014, and was shortlisted for the National Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year 2014 and for the National Book Awards New Writer of the Year 2014. It also comes with high praise from previous Mumsnet web chatters Emma Donoghue and Jonathan Coe, among other fans. The book is narrated by Maud, who suffers from dementia, but knows that something has happened to her friend Elizabeth. Clues and mysteries are interwoven with her childhood memories, as Maud's confused mind jumps between past and present. It is a gripping suspense story, as well as a compassionate portrait of a 'missing' woman's struggle to find the truth.

You can find out more at our www.mumsnet.com/books/bookclub/2015/elizabeth-is-missing-emma-healey, or at Emmas's own website.

If you weren't lucky enough to bag one of the free books we have given away, you can always get a copy here.

We are delighted that Emma will be joining us on Wednesday 28 January, 9-10pm to discuss Elizabeth Is Missing, her tips on writing plus much more. Please feel free to discuss the book here throughout the month (avoiding spoilers if possible) and then come and meet Emma on the night, and ask her a question or simply tell her what you thought of the book.

Look forward to seeing you here on the 28th.

Sumac, I think if you se my earlier posts, I agree. It was a good depiction of people's responses but not convincing of Maud's internal monologue or thought processes. There didn't seem to be a fragmentation of thought, just a by numbers portrayal - eg remembering the past in detail, stocking up on the same random item, calling things other names - toast burner thing - it all seemed internally to be more amnesia

Finished it yesterday and loved it.

Finished it today and hated it. It was so obvious , no surprises at the end and tbh if they'd thought to write a note about Elizabeth it would have made it a lot simpler.

Read it in one sitting today! I think it's the ultimate example of a book with an unreliable narrator.

I was interested to see that Ruth Rendell recommended it; most of the time with new (hyped) novels of a certain type, I find myself saying "It's ok but Ruth Rendell was doing it so much better as Barbara Vine 30 years ago. " (in fact I know I've done so several times on MN!)

This time however I enjoyed it as much as, for example, A Dark Adapted Eye or Asta's Book (which both have old mysteries at the heart of them)

I would definitely want to read some more by Emma Healey.

Maud's narrative makes her endearing, she seems like such a lovely character from the outset. It's quite clear that she will have a huge struggle to find Elizabeth when she can barely remember five minutes ago yet I found myself willing her on regardless. Emma Healey has done a wonderful job of keeping the story moving whilst representing the confusion of an old lady with no memory.

The search for Elizabeth is intertwined with flashbacks to when her sister went missing as a young woman after the war. The include her sister's husband, Frank, the 'mad woman' who was always hanging around, and Douglas, the lodger. I expected the search for Elizabeth to take up more of the book than it did, but in the end i was pleased to get much more than a story of a forgetful old woman looking for her friend. Maud is funny and kind but very confused. Her family struggles to keep up with her and this is obviously quite frustrating.

I'm looking forward to Emma Healey's next book!

i am reading this book so far great .. haven't read a book as good as this for ages ... please do buy a copy ... i picked mine up at my local sainsburys for 3.49

Why did you choose Amsterdam/The Netherlands for the setting? I used to live there and loved it! Have applied for my copy too!

Hi Emma, first of all congratulations!
I am a mature student studying English and Creative Writing at uni. I would love to know which, when planning your novel did you start with first. The storyline or the character? Do you have an idea in mind of the story and write a suitable protagonist or do you create a character and then introduce 'a problem' or event?
Thanks xxx

Finished it last night and found it very absorbing and touching. I don't believe anyone can usefully comment on Maud's internal dialogues as none of us (presumably) have that degree of dementia. But did it make me think? Yes. Did it make me sorry for my impatience with and coldness towards my mother before she died? Yes. Will it make me more understanding, more forgiving and less afraid of others with dementia? yes.

The only slight 'miss' for me was the lack of content or thoughts about Patrick. But I suppose the story wasn't about Maud's relationship with her husband, it was about herself, Sukey and Elizabeth.

I have just finished this, and loved it. My grandmother had dementia and Maud reminded me so much of her. She has her good and bad days, or parts of days, and my Nan could always remember her younger years, especially those during the war, in graphic detail. Yet she couldn't remember the name for a 'knife', or the way from the living room to the toilet or kitchen. I have to admit to having had to stop reading to reach for a tissue on several occasions, with my dh saying "Why on earth are you reading a book that upsets you so much??!!". But hey, it's nice to remember, isn't it in whatever capacity - the good and the bad. But as this book seems to show, even in the bad times, there is some good: there's the enduring love of Maud's family. Her daughter looks after her when she can no longer look after herself - and that's no small job (I know from experience).
So anyway, I'm rather a fan of this book!!

I read this book as soon as it was on the shelves I loved it and will absolutely pick it up to read a second time.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. My grandmother suffered for a very long time with dementia and I found it quite upsetting to read about Maud's confusion and fear. I also thought the mystery was a little bit obvious in it's solution, I guess i was expecting something a bit more revelatory

But I did think it was very well written, and I liked the change between present and past. I don't feel like the parts about Maud's childhood were coming from her dementia addled brain, they were just part of the story for me.

I don't quite get what makes this book particularly stand out as a bestseller.

My questions for the author: how long did it take to write this, your first novel? And had you started other novels and left them to finish this one?

Read it in 2 days, couldn't put it down, I loved it, a must read. Great characters Maud could really see people for who they really were ie Elizabeth's son. Don't we all know someone that's waiting for a relation to die so they can sell off their treasures, he was so different to Maud's daughter who tried so hard to keep Maud in her own home.

This is an excellently written book. I kept having to put it down and go back to it; the prose was so well written as how the mind of someone with dementia would work I found it very sad.

Within this is an interesting and emergent plot that you can't quite predict.

I was especially impressed by how the author managed to write in such a fashion, from the mind of someone with dementia.

I think this is an insightful book for those with a relative with dementia, or working with people with dementia. It gives an understanding to the frustrating foibles that make up part of life with someone in that position.

Thank you for this book.

This is the sort of book you join book clubs for - I probably wouldn't have picked it up if it hadn't been on the list, but once I started reading I couldn't put it down. I have no knowledge of dementia but the way Maud experienced life in a continuous present with each moment very tenuously connected to the last felt convincing. There's an underlying logic to her actions which no one, not even herself is ever fully aware of.
I liked the post war setting for the flashback scenes and the sense of a society still on edge following the war reminded me slightly of Sarah Waters' The Little Stranger. My question for Emma is: did you particularly want to write about this period or did it just work out that because of Maud's age and did researching it change the book in any way?

I have finished reading the book now and loved it, although it did make me feel very sad. Coincidentally, I read "Still Alice" just before "Elizabeth Is Missing" and they did make a good pair to read together, with early onset Alzheimer's comparing with an elderly lady with dementia. The books together taught me a lot about treating those with dementia as 'real' people with valid opinions, ideas and views.

I liked how her memory of the past was compared to her current memory throughout the book, but that her memory/thoughts had never been that clear and so she hadn't Solved Sukey's disapearence before now. I liked how the book was written that as her thoughts were cleared of everyday things, she focused on the mystery and that ultimately helped her to solved it.

I am looking forward to Wednesday!

Starting reading it. Thank you for my free copy.

Have just finished this today. Thanks for my free copy. Really enjoyed it and have some questions I will ask on Weds. I'm looking forward to it.

Looking forward to tomorrow, almost finished the book. A pleasure and one I wouldn't have read ordinarily - so pleased I got a copy, than you

Getting my questions ready for tomorrow

Hi Emma. I really loved your book. I notice that you dedicated it to your two grandmothers and wondered if either of them had dementia and whether that is where you were able to get such insight into the condition? I am guessing you had a very close relationship with one or other, or both of them because Katy was so well depicted also and also your references to things which happened in the war - I can imagine you sitting on their knee whilst they regaled you with tales of their privations - is that right? I look forward to the sequel!

Can't wait for this. I loved the book. One of those ones I felt compelled to tell everyone about when I had finished it.

May sound a bit odd, but Maud really reminded me of my son. He is only five but has his own neurological issues and often seems to be not quite with us, or focussed on the "wrong" thing. I thought of him many times through the book and was reminded to always be patient with him. So thank you for that.

This is me making sure I can post something.

Emma, your book is the kind where I you then attempt to look up the whole of the author's back catalogue. The kind of book that makes you evangelise to your friends please write more. I loved it. It remains the best book I've read this year, and I've read 18 so far ... Thank you

Hi Emma,

Just finished 'Elizabeth is Missing' last night in time for tonight. (We're reading it for the book club I belong to.) I work in older people's mental health services, and think you have done a fantastic job of writing about the inner experiences of people affected by dementia.

My question refers to the end of the book, just wanted to warn anyone who hasn't read it, in case of spoilers!

My interpretation of Maud repeatedly asking about how to plant marrows, and of how drawn she was to Elizabeth's house, was that at some level she was suspicious of Frank; did you mean that to be the case?