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.

[TillyBookClub]

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.

Many congratulations Emma on winning the Costa award. Can I ask which authors you enjoy reading now and which authors influenced you in the past?

@MrsSquirrel

What research did you do to enable you to portray Maud's point of view so convincingly?

Hello. Just answering this first question ahead of time in order to make sure my quote function works.

I did a lot of research for the book. To begin with I observed and talked to relatives living with dementia, and their carers - both family carers (daughters, nieces, etc) and professional carers. My paternal grandmother was a particular inspiration. I also read medical textbooks and manuals on how to deal with dementia, I found out about the history of the discovery of Alzheimer’s, and I read online dementia diaries which are particularly popular in the USA - people in the early stages are encouraged to log their day online, which helps them to feel they aren’t losing track of everything and also helps their friends and family understand what they might be going through. As time went on and I began to share what I was working on - mostly with other writers - I found people to be very generous with their experiences of dementia too and some of their feedback helped to shape the book.

P.S. Thanks for the congrats MrsSquirrel! Much appreciated.

Our little one has been an angel with her sleep, since 8 weeks exactly she slept 8 - 10 hrs per night (10pm til 8am). She is 16 weeks now and for the past two weeks has been waking in the night, needing a feed and either 3am or 5am, sometimes both.

Initially I thought it was a growth spurt but as it has been going on so long I am not so sure.

Has anyone else had a similar issue around this age? If so, did it pass or is this my little ones new routine??

Thanks
Carol

Hi Emma,

Congratulations and thank you for writing this book. You have got me out of my rut of Jackie Collins' that I've been lazily reading since the birth of my second child

I'm very inspired to get reading more good books again (No offence Jackie).

if I like your book - which I do, a lot - can you tell me any other authors, past or current, or any other specific books that you think I'll also like?

Evening everyone

Firstly, thank you to all those who have posted their reviews and thoughts so far. It is great to see so many responses, and the personal stories connected to the book.

I’m delighted to welcome the supremely talented Emma Healey to Bookclub this evening.

Emma, thank you very, very much indeed for giving us your time tonight. And congratulations on your Costa Award and your tremendous debut novel. We've already got a fair few questions to get through so I'll just add the standard Mumsnet ones that we like to ask all our authors...

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What is the best book you’ve given someone recently?

And the best you’ve received?

Over to you...

I finished reading this book in the same week I watched the theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.

What struck me about both was the insight into the workings of somebody's mind who is seeing things differently to others around them, and the clever way the reader/viewer really gets to see things through the eyes/mind of the narrator.

It's quite heartbreaking to see both the internal workings/reasoning of Maud and then the responses and attitudes of people around her who only see the external 'older woman with dementia'. Thank you for giving me a little glimpse of understanding. I think that will stay with me.

@TillyBookClub

What childhood book most inspired you?

What would be the first piece of advice you would give to anyone attempting to write fiction?

What is the best book you've given someone recently?

And the best you've received?

Hello! And thank you for having me.
The childhood book that most inspired me was I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I read it when I was 15 and it made me want to be a writer – both in the style of Cassandra Mortmain, ‘sitting in the kitchen sink’, and her father, the tortured genius who hides himself away in the castle gatehouse.

The piece of advice I'd give is to save your will power. You'll need your will power to keep writing, so don’t use it up on starting a new diet, giving up smoking or drinking, or forcing yourself into an intense exercise regime at the gym. You can do those things when you’re finished (maybe). So many people make a long list of new years resolutions and writing is just one of them, I think if writing your novel is your resolution it has to be the only one!

The best book I've recently given someone is Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton. And actually it was during dinner at my house and another friend took Slaves of Solitude by the same author at the same time (always a mistake to let bookish friends loose on your shelves!). I love Patrick Hamilton, his writing is so atmospheric and he is very clever at showing how people hurt each other intentionally or not.

And the best I've recently received? Well, my friend fairly recently introduced me to Ira Levin, who wrote Rosemary’s Baby and The Boys from Brazil. She gave me a copy of A Kiss Before Dying which is a masterpiece of suspense. It begins inside the mind of the murderer and you think, because of that, you know who he is, but then in the next section, with the crime ready to be solved, you realise you haven’t a clue who he is – it’s incredibly disconcerting and even frightening.

Hi Emma,
Was it difficult to represent Maud's confused mind whilst still making it readable and engaging? You did a very good job (despite some horrible criticism)

Hi,
I would like start by congratulating Emma Healey for winning of the Costa First Novel Award and for being voted in the Top 3 in the year's best novels by Guardian readers.

@ZammoMcGuire

Emma - would you recommend that people with relatives with dementia read this book or not?

This is a difficult one for me to answer. I have had a lot of feedback from readers who've been close to those living with dementia and have said they’ve found it useful, that they have felt closer or better able to understand loved ones, even after they’ve passed away. There have been people who’ve found the book difficult, or upsetting, but I have had very little feedback to say that anyone has been unable to finish the book or felt really traumatised or anything. I think because the book is using imagination I’m probably not taking the reader anywhere you haven’t already explored in your own mind. In my experience most loved-ones have tried to imagine what it might be like to have dementia themselves, and this is a similar thought-experiment.

Hello Emma. Thank you so much for coming to talk to us and many congratulations for winning the debut novel Costa Prize.

I really enjoyed reading Elizabeth is Missing. It has really given me a good appreciation for how people with dementia still have important things to share and how they should be treated. I loved how as the present disintegrated for Maud, the past became clearer, helping her to solve it. I also liked how Helen and Katy were written and I felt sad for Helen who was doing her absolute best in very hard circumstances.

I also loved the way the story jumped around between the past and the present. Was that difficult to write? Did you have the past and the present storylines worked out separately first?

I thought Helens character was really well portrayed. she seemed like a strong, compassionate woman who loved her mother but understandably got exasperated by the situation a lot of times. I thought it was wonderful that she did so much to try and help Maud and gave her a place to stay, while still seeming very human throughout it all. She seemed to be a single parent in the book?

When you were writing did you know much about the 'absent' characters in the book? Did you have a kind of 'back story' to Katy's dad, and the family situation there? Was it a conscious decision to have the main 'family' as three generations of solo females? (I know Tom is in the story but only fleeting visits)

'Elizabeth Is Missing' is as much a human character piece and an exploration of family relationships as it is a mystery. It was interesting the way the contrasts between the numerous relationships are explored - Maud's childhood with Sukey and her parents, and now her relationship with Helen, and Katy (and Tom), as well as with her carers and friends/colleagues from Oxfam, the Sukey-Frank-Douglas triangle, the connection between Douglas and the 'Mad Woman', the situation between Elizabeth and her son, Peter. But throughout, it is the family binds that were impossible to ignore, and ultimately the deep love for their cherished ones that drove the characters actions.

How much did your own family relationships influence you characters actions and personalities?

@pennwood

I would like to ask Emma what experience she has of dementia, & what formatted the idea of writing a novel with this thread going through it?

I have, or have had, six family members living with one form of dementia or another, and since I was a teenager I'd thought about trying to make sense of the condition by writing about it in some way. Then, one day, my father’s mother was in the car with me and my dad and she said: ‘my friend is missing’. It turned out her friend wasn’t missing (she was staying with her daughter in another town), but it set me thinking – what if her friend really had been missing, or what if Grandma hadn’t been able to retain the answer to her worry? It made me think about her situation more clearly and it gave me the idea for a plot which might carry the dementia theme well.

Really pleased I can join this discussion tonight and excited to discuss the book with fellow mumsnet tears and of course Emma!
I loved the book- found it very readable and easy to follow even with the switching back and forth from present to past. I haven't read a book quite like this where the narrator has dementia and thought the idea was brilliant with a very convincing and sensitive portrayal of what it is like to live with this condition, for both Maud and also her family.
One sign of a great book for me is if the character stays with me long after, and I have a feeling that Maud will do that.
I work as a doctor and reading the book from Maud's perspective reminded me about how important it is to treat patients with dementia as people, with patience, dignity and respect-and also of the massive challenges faced by carers, including the huge emotional pain of seeing a loved one go through this.
One thing I did find difficult about the book though was how the first doctor In the book was portrayed- someone who was completely insensitive, impatient, uncaring-Emma, I would be interested in whether this was based on your own experiences or whether his attributes were exaggerated for the purposes of the story. I would also be interested in the experience of other mumsnetters with relatives who have dementia, about whether they have had similar negative experiences with doctors or whether they have had a more positive experience, and what one piece of advice you would give to a doctor to help make their interactions with patients with dementia (and their carers) better.
Thanks
Arti

@Solent7

Why did you choose Amsterdam/The Netherlands for the setting?

The setting is really Bournemouth, but as I cut up a map and stuck it back together again, I never explicitly say that in the novel. Why did you think it was Amsterdam?

Thank you Emma, I've really enjoyed reading Elizabeth is Missing.

I had to concentrate a lot harder than usual (not a bad thing) as the narrative moved between different times - I sometimes find myself not paying full attention when reading a book, but this time I had to be careful to follow properly so as not to get lost.

I loved the way that when switching between Maud now and Maud as a child, there was often a clever link to get from one to the other. I imagine that they were quite interesting to write. For example, the memory of hiding in the larder.

Can I ask you which part of writing the book did you most enjoy and how long from first planning it to finishing it has it taken you?

It's interesting to know it was Bournemouth. I had no idea where it was set! I got an outer London feel!

@lozzybeast

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

I think they sort of come together. I knew that the plot was going to involve dementia, and I knew I was interested in what it might be like to be a lot older, so that suggested the age of Maud. But I didn’t know everything about her immediately – I think it’s important to leave something to be discovered, to keep yourself interested as a writer. I’m doing the same with my next book. I know who my protagonist is in a general way (a man in his late 30s), I know his voice, but I don’t know all his history, likes and dislikes, etc – I’m looking forward to finding that out. Plot on the other hand is something I like to plan – I keep a summary and update it meticulously. I still get surprises, which I enjoy, but I hate to write completely blind. I think each writer has to find the way of working that suits them best.
Good luck with your studies!

Emma, I think next month's book is set in Amsterdam, maybe Solent7 has posted on the wrong thread?

@ladydepp

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?

It took me five years to write, though I was working full-time for a lot of that and having to squeeze writing in at weekends, evenings and lunchtimes.
I had always been writing, but never got all that far with a previous project. I think I was looking for Maud’s voice for most of that time and when I found it I knew it was right and I could finally commit to a project.

Ooh another book. When do you think it will be ready?

When I read that question I was wondering why I'd thought it was set in England

@Sapeke

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 was particularly interested in that time because it’s sort of the story that happens after the credits roll – I’ve seen a lot of British wartime films, but the only one I can think of set immediately after the war is It Always Rains on Sunday which is depressing, but brilliant. I also thought that that time of flux and confusion in history would reflect the change and confusion in Maud’s present-day mind. People were moving back to cities after having been evacuated, servicemen were being de-mobbed and waiting to go home too, and families were coming together again – or breaking up. Legal Aid began after the WWII because of the great number of divorces taking place after hasty wartime marriages, but some people didn’t get divorced, they just upped and left. I thought that was a great context for Sukey’s disappearance.
As I did more research (reading diaries from that period as well has books on social history) I found I wanted to put more in, I realised how much that time might have shaped Maud and I wanted to use that as an opportunity to show the reader more of her personality – the personality that she still has despite the feeling that some part of herself is slipping away.

hi Elizabeth,
I really enjoyed your book, and found it very emotional but in parts frustrating. At times I was confused at to which time era we were in. I am not sure whether that was me being a bit thick or whether that was your intention to portray the confusion of Maud as the narrator?