When she was passing through Ile de Ré – a holiday destination favoured by the wealthy, set just off the coast of France – and wondering where she might stay for the night – she saw a woman leaving a cottage carrying a suitcase, and heard her saying the numbers out loud – in English – as she worked the property’s digital lock. In a small French town Tabby has become desperate, she has a broken heart and is pondering on some home truths and now she’s travelled from Paris to this unknown, quiet town with no money on a whim. There was an ever-present urge to keep pushing the creative vision from all departments and a real collaborative environment as soon I joined. Her experiences are also the gateway into a wider theme that is explored and touches upon all of the main characters: loneliness and isolation.

Then she overhears a villager repeating aloud the access code to her front door and, hardly believing her own actions, Tabby waits for the villager to leave and lets herself into the house . That title, a lovely cover, and an intriguing post caught my eye and I decided, even though I wasn’t sure it would be my kind of book, that I should read ‘The Disappearance of Emily Marr. Lacking ambition and happy in grotty lodgings and dead end jobs, she frankly needed a kick up the bum! I chose this out of all Louise Candlish’s previous books on the authors own kind advice following my review of The Sudden Departure of the Frasers.Tabby lives with her unsociable and intensely private English saviour, both living off the record, being paid cash in hand for cleaning rental holiday homes in the expensive resort of Ile de Ré. Tabby Dewhurst had been travelling with her boyfriend, but they had parted company, her funds had run perilously low, and she was managing as best she could. Having thoroughly enjoyed The Sudden Departure of the Frasers which was published by this author earlier this year, I was thrilled to find that there was a back-catalogue to explore with high-praise being bestowed on this book.

Unusually for me, I’m going to pinch the blurb here, as it does quite a good job of setting up the storyline: When Emily Marr begins an affair with her married neighbour, the celebrated surgeon Arthur Woodhall, she has no idea of the tragedy and scandal their actions will cause. I don't care how powerful Nina Meeks supposedly is, NO editor would allow a column like hers (which generated nation-wide hatred of Emily) to run.Do you have any suggestions on where I should start or perhaps you think some of these need to be put back on the shelf and forgotten about?