When She Was Gone

W hat happened to Linsey Hart? When the Cornell-bound teenager disappears into the steamy blue of a late-summer morning, her quiet neighborhood is left to pick apart the threads of their own lives and assumptions. Linseys neighbors are just ordinary peoplebut even ordinary people can keep terrible secrets hidden close. Theres Linseys mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social-outcast status painfully obvious; Mr. Leonard, the quiet, retired piano teacher with insomnia, who saw Linsey leave; Reeva, the queen bee of a clique of mothers, now obsessed with a secret interest; Timmy, Linseys lovelorn ex-boyfriend; and George, an eleven-year-old loner who is determined to find out what happened to his missing neighbor. As the days of Linseys absence tick by, dread and hope threaten to tear a community apart. This luminous new novel by the acclaimed author of The Orphan Sister explores coming of age in the shadows of a suburban life, and what is revealed when the light suddenly shines in. . . . Review What happens behind the closed doors of a neighborhood, and beyond the facades of the people who live there? Gwendolen Gross has the sharp insight of a documentarian, turning her lens on each house of a frightened town after a college-bound girl goes missing. Full of heart but free of sentimentality, When She Was Gone shows the sinews of belonging and not-belonging that bind a community. (Nichole Bernier author of The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D ) "Gwendolen Gross uses the disappearance of a young woman to tell the story of a community in crisis, and her gaze is both unflinching and surprisingly tender. When She Was Gone is a dark but elegantly crafted book, the tension building toward a climax that promises redemption to its wayward characters." (Holly Goddard Jones author of The Next Time You See Me ) Gwendolen Gross creates characters so familiar they could live next door. Her new novel, When She Was Gone , reflects a perfect balance of darkness and intricate struggles, woven together with hope and redemption. Abigail, Reeva, and Mr. Leonards voices form some of the most powerful and beautiful language Ive read in quite a while. Mix in a nail-biting plot and you have one outstanding read. (Ann Hite award-winning author of Ghost on Black Mountain ) "Death, life, redemption and music combine in a rewarding novel." (Kirkus) "Similar in title and theme to Gillian Flynns Gone Girl , Grosss fifth novel feels more genuine in that her characters are less contrived. Gross deftly depicts the dread-filled unfolding of a mothers realization that her child is missing and clearly portrays how a crisis of this nature unearths alliances and fissures within a community." (Library Journal) Engaging and sentence-perfect, wonderful in so many ways, but I love it best for its vibrant, emotionally complex main character Clementine. I felt so entirely with her, as she loves those around her with both devotion and complexity and as she struggles to achieve a delicate balance between belonging to others and being herself. (New York Times bestseller Marisa de los Santos) With exquisite language and an empathetic ear, Gwendolen Gross paints a gorgeous portrait of life, love, loss and sisterhood, and forces you to ask yourself: how far will you go for your family and what secrets can shatter even that bond? The Orphan Sister will linger long after youve turned the final page. (New York Times bestseller Allison Winn Scotch) "Breathtakingly original. A haunting exploration of love, loyalty, sisters, hope, and the ties that bind us togetherand make the ground tremble beneath us when they break. I loved, loved, loved this novel." (New York Times bestseller Caroline Leavitt) This charming portrait of an impossibly gorgeous and gifted family is something rare: a delightful confection, filled with humor and warmth, that also probes the complex nature of identity, the vagaries of romantic and filial love, and the materialism inherent in contemporary American culture." (Joanna Smith Rakoff) About the Author Gwendolen Gross is the author of five critically acclaimed novels, including The Orphan Sister and The Other Mother . She has worked with porcupines and kinkajous as a science demonstrator, on mountain tops as a naturalist, as an editor, opera singer, writing instructor, and mom. She lives in Northern New Jersey with her husband, daughter, and son. Tom Perotta's Little Children meets Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones in this suspenseful and beautifully wrought story of a seventeen-year-old girl who vanishes on the eve of her departure for college, as told through the alternating perspectives of her neighbors. W hat happened to Linsey Hart? When the Cornell-bound teenager disappears into the steamy blue of a late-summer morning, her quiet neighborhood is left to pick apart the threads of their own lives and assumptions. Linsey's neighbors are just ordinary people—but even ordinary people can keep terrible secrets hidden close. There's Linsey's mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social-outcast status painfully obvious; Mr. Leonard, the quiet, retired piano teacher with insomnia, who saw Linsey leave; Reeva, the queen bee of a clique of mothers, now obsessed with a secret interest; Timmy, Linsey's lovelorn ex-boyfriend; and George, an eleven-year-old loner who is determined to find out what happened to his missing neighbor. As the days of Linsey's absence tick by, dread and hope threaten to tear a community apart. This luminous new novel by the acclaimed author of The Orphan Sister explores coming of age in the shadows of a suburban life, and what is revealed when the light suddenly shines in. . . . Tom Perottas Little Children meets Alice Sebolds The Lovely Bones in this suspenseful and beautifully wrought story of a seventeen-year-old girl who vanishes on the eve of her departure for college, as told through the alternating perspectives of her neighbors. Seventeen-year-old Linsey Hart disappears the day before shes due to leave for college. As her neighbors piece together what they saw and what they think they know about the missing girl, their long-held secrets, prejudices, and entanglements become rudely evident. Theres Linseys mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social outcast status painfully obvious; stay-at-home mom Reeva, whose primary concern is covering up the affair shes been having with the Starbucks barista; Mr. Leonard, a reclusive retired piano teacherand the last person to see Linsey alive; George, an eleven year-old gifted loner who is determined to find out what happened to Linsey; and Timmy, Linseys ex-boyfriend, who is left grieving as he embarks on his own college career. A keenly observed portrait of a small town under duress, When She Was Gone is a searing portrayal of the bonds that hold a community togetherand the secrets and lies that threaten to rip it apart. Just before she’s supposed to start her freshman year at college, Linsey Hart goes missing. Her absence rocks the insular commuter community, whose hypocritical residents publicly wonder how such a thing could happen, while privately disdaining the people and events at the center of Linsey’s life. Her neighbor, Mr. Leonard, muses about Linsey’s disappearance as he plays Rachmaninoff nocturnes while wearing his deceased mother’s evening gown. George, an 11-year-old social misfit, surreptitiously photographs the town’s denizens, searching for clues as to Linsey’s whereabouts. Randy, middle-aged soccer mom Reeva mourns the loss of Linsey as a babysitter for her autistic son, but not to the point where it interferes with her affair with Jordan, a Starbucks barista half her age. Meanwhile, Linsey’s ex-boyfriend Timmy and her mother, Abigail, each grapple with self-recriminations over their roles in driving Linsey away. Gross’ canny twist on the missing-child trope is less a taunting mystery than a caustic indictment of the superficiality of suburban mores and morals.