The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde: The spellbinding mystery from the Richard & Judy bestselling author of The Glass House

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In the present day, we meet Jessie and her husband Will, whom she adores, her little girl Romy, and her angry step-daughter Bella. Determined to find happiness together as a family, Jessie is convinced that a fresh start in the countryside will help Bella overcome her resentment and accept Jessie and Romy as part of her life. So when she crosses the threshold of Applecote Manor, she is instantly captivated by all it has to offer, and desperately hopes that it will work its magic on Bella who is clinging to her old life when her mother was alive. But something lingers in the old rooms of this old house, a memory from the past which has never truly been unravelled... Yes, it's full of coincidences. Just go with it. Don't expect a masterpiece, just relax and enjoy an easy read with a bit of substance. In the heatwave of 1959, four sisters arrive at Applecote Manor to relive their memories of hazy Cotswolds summers. Fifty years later, Jesse is desperate to move her family out of their London home, where signs of her widower husband's previous wife are around every corner. Gorgeous Applecote Manor, nestled in the English countryside, seems the perfect solution. But Jesse finds herself increasingly isolated in their new sprawling home, at odds with her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter and haunted by the strange rumours that surround the estate.

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde / The Wildling Sisters The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde / The Wildling Sisters

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde is a haunting, richly evocative dream of a novel, filled with suspense and secrets. I’d definitely recommend a visit to Applecote Manor. In the earlier time period, I found the relationships among the four Wilde sisters, affectionately dubbed the Wildlings by their Uncle Perry, interesting, especially seeing how the dynamic between them shifts over the course of the book. They’re certainly plunged in to a difficult situation. That this is likely to be the last summer which the sisters spend together before their futures start diverging, only adds to its poignancy. A long hot summer, a Cotswolds manor house fallen into ruin, a dark secret hidden since the 1950s . . . all perfect ingredients for an addictive read, and The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde delivers atmosphere in spades * Good Housekeeping * The four sisters move to Applecote Manor to live with their Aunt Sybil and Uncle Peregrine when their mother goes abroad. Aunt Sybil has imprisoned herself in the home since the disappearance of her daughter, Audrey, five years earlier. She went down to the river one day and was never seen again.Atmospheric, with echoes of du Maurier, this haunting novel enchanted me -- Fanny Blake * Woman & Home * I'm really in awe of Chase's power of description. It is magical and she sharpens every sense -- Veronica Henry * Daily Express * The dual line flips between the present day and 1959 with the full picture slowly emerging as the book progresses. The perspective is told from two perspective; 15 year old Margot in 1959 and Jessie in the present day. The storytelling was effortless, with the two times effortless leading from one to another. Discuss the character of Caroline Alton. She admits to Lorna that she found her stepchildren “unfathomable” (p. 168). Do you think she is a bad stepmother? Are her actions ever justified? The entire novel is infused with this sort of natural wit, but it’s showcased more in the 1959 sections, the dynamics of the Wilde sisters adding that ‘something more’ to every scene that they are in. The relationship between the sisters, their deep and abiding loyalty to each other, was a wonderful part of this story. They were a unit; them against the rest of the world, and they rarely lost sight of that. Margot herself was a faithful narrator and I enjoyed experiencing the 1959 story through her eyes. She puts up with a lot on account of being Audrey’s pale comparison, and I thought she showed great strength of character on more than one occasion.

BOOK CLUB MATERIAL - Eve Chase

Rolling out in two timelines, one in 1959 and one in the present, Applecote Manor is the one constant that bridges the separate tales. In 1959, the four Wilde sisters are sent to the English countryside to live with their aunt and uncle for the summer whilst their bohemian mother runs off to Cairo to take on a bookkeeping position. How I would love to meet every single one of these characters in real life! The sisters are a delightful bunch, close-knit and full of life and the product of a rather unconventional upbringing. Soon they restore some joy into the old household, which has been in mourning ever since their cousin Audrey vanished without a trace five years previously. The author wound the story around until the two timelines merged in a poignant way, slowly releasing the pent -up tensions, and bringing closure to all in a satisfying way. THE VANISHING OF AUDREY WILDE by Eve Chase was so much more than I expected and the deeper I fell into the story, the more it captured my imagination. The dual timeline is excellently portrayed with so many similarities between characters even though time has separated them. The devastation of losing a child and never knowing what happened is effortlessly conveyed and my heart broke at times when reading this book, and the unshakeable bond of sisterhood is a theme which is given great power. But most of all it is a story of family, love, and the fact that you cannot escape the past until you confront it. Were there any scenes or instances that you felt mirrored your relationship with your mother or daughter? Fifty years later, with the memory of her widower husband’s wife constantly surrounding her, Jesse is ready to escape the city. Not only that, her stepdaughter was involved in an ugly incident, which figured into her desire to move. Applecote Manor felt like the perfect place in the perfect setting at the perfect time.The second story is told by thirty-five year-old Jessie, who has persuaded her husband to but Applegate Manor. It stretched their finances, almost to breaking point, but Jessie was sure that moving out of London and settling in the country was the best thing for her family. It would allow her to give her young daughter the upbringing she wanted,; it would give her a chance to improve her relationship with her stepdaughter, who she didn’t think had been able to come to terms with her mother’s death a few years earlier; and it would allow her to escape from the very long shadow cast by her husband’s first wife. Now, jump forward fifty years and a new family move into Applecote. But old mysteries also threaten to tear their lives apart as renovations of the house and grounds uncover old secrets. This summer wasn't the best for anyone, though. The close knit sisters drew apart, and Margot was obsessed with finding out what really happened to Audrey. Along with everything else, Aunt Sylvia did a few odd things and kept things from the girls. Lauren, Flora, and Kat have an unconventional sisterhood. What do you feel were some of the positives and negatives of their relationships? If you have siblings, were you able to relate your own family situation to this dynamic? If so, how? Did you have a favourite Wilde sister? Why or why not? Did the sisters remind you of your own siblings?

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde (Audio Download): Eve Chase The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde (Audio Download): Eve Chase

I have a lot of health issues, and meds give me brain fog. Recently I just haven't been able to hang on to anything in depth or challenging at all, but I really don't like reading drivel. I've been charging through middle of the road novels with mixed success. Margot and her sisters were a delight. I found the humour in these sections a lively addition and there were plenty of moments where I laughed out loud at the sister’s observations: From the opening chapter, there is an absorbing atmosphere of mystery that the author skilfully maintains throughout the book. Alternating between past and present, there are subtle links, echoes and common themes in both stories. Often, in a dual time narrative such as this, I find myself more drawn to the parts set in the past. However, in this case, I felt equally engaged in both stories. The writing was the best thing of all. It was vivid, it was evocative, and it was impressionistic. I was never really aware that I was reading descriptive passages, that I was reading the narrator’s thoughts, and yet I drew so much about the times, about the places, about the lives being lived, from the two narratives. When the four wilde sisters come to stay with their Aunt and Uncle at Applecote Manor, they find that the vanishing of their young cousin Audrey 5 years earlier still remains a mystery and the hot summer of 1959 becomes one they will remember for some time.

An enthralling story of secrets, sisters and an unsolved mystery -- Kate Morton * Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lake House *

The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde: The spellbinding mystery from The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde: The spellbinding mystery from

Despite her unexplained disappearance five years earlier, Audrey is a constant, silent, almost ghostly, presence in the story set in the past. What the author does very well in this book, is use the ‘ancient’ mystery to tease our the personal issues and insecurities of these two very different families. And, ultimately, the resolution of the first mystery provides a foundation on which the new family can start to rebuild their own lives. It was during the hot summer of 1959 that the four Wilde sisters arrived at Applecote to stay with their aunt and uncle. Five years previously, their cousin Audrey had disappeared from this same house without a trace. After this we move to the present time, albeit find ourselves at the same house, Applecote Manor, where Jess is determined to create a new idyllic life with her family, hoping to put behind past troubles, especially with her difficult teenage step-daughter Bella. I have to say I found the modern day story rather slow, mainly concerned as it was with strained family dynamics, Jess in particular grating on the nerves as she became increasingly insecure about her husband Will's dead first wife Mandy. Too much time was spent for my liking merely following Jess' thoughts, nothing much actually happening; nor did the story really connect very much to the past story. Chase's main strength here for me was mainly in the sense of foreboding she managed to create, and the setting of Applecote itself, a house with a past, the impressions of its past residents still resonating strongly, that atmosphere of mystery, cloaked secrets that refuse to offer themselves up.

Were you surprised by Harry’s confession to Margot? Why or why not? How do you feel about the way Audrey’s story ends?