This came from her like a stream of consciousness. She clutched her knees as she spoke, her hazel eyes wide with intent, with honesty. I believed her. I absolutely believed her. I said, ‘good. That’s really good. I’ll take you tomorrow. When Poppy’s at school. I’ll take you home. To your mother.’ Laurel's daughter in law, Blue, spouts New Age mumbo jumbo about how she didn't like Floyd when she met him because he has a bad aura or some crap like that. In the alternate ending, Ellie doesn't die, instead Floyd finds Ellie in the basement after he kills Noelle. He's scared of losing Poppy, so he keeps her alive in his basement. After he kills himself, Laurel and Ellie are reunited.

The interesting fact is the way of disappearance of Noelle reminds of her the way of disappearance of her own daughter. When her daughter's bones are discovered years later, Laurel feels she can finally move on with her life. She meets a man at a cafe not long after the burial of her favorite child. Laurel’s life has been on hold in many ways since her daughter’s death, but she meets a new man, Floyd, and finds herself drawn in by his charm. She’s excited, happy and open to new possibilities again. It’s not until she meets his younger daughter, Poppy, though that questions arise. Poppy is lovely and precocious … and looks so much like Ellie that it can’t possibly be a coincidence. wow. okay. maybe i wont be playing the whole ‘predict what happens based on the synopsis only’ game because it turns out i only got 1 out of 4 guesses right and its not a good look for my ego. lol.As soon as their relationship become serious and she forms true bounding with Poppy, she surprisingly finds out the birth mother Noelle of Poppy who left her is the same woman who has tutored her daughter Ellie. And Ellie wrote at her diary that woman gave her creeps and she didn’t want her tutoring anymore. The reasons behind Ellie’s disappearance come to light through Ellie’s POV. Her mother, Laurel, also has a main voice in the story. Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past. Gripping and heartbreaking, I shed more than a few tears as the book came to an end with a gut-wrenching epilogue.

Laurel meets Floyd Dunn at a cafe, and they go to dinner at a Eritrean restaurant. Floyd has two kids, a 21-year-old named Sara-Jade (from his first marriage to Kate Virtue) and Poppy, 9-year-old from a casual relationship. Poppy's mother abandoned her at his doorstep when Poppy was four. His constant praise of how gorgeous and stunning and amazing Laurel is is nearly just as creepy as him keeping silent about Poppy.I can do it,’ she said. ‘I can go home and I can tell my parents that I ran away and that I’ve been living in a squat. Or a commune. Living rough. Hand to mouth. Moving from place to place. I’ll tell them that I lost my mind. That the stress of my exams made me go mad for a while. I’ll tell them that I’ve been lost and that now I’m found. And I won’t, I swear, I won’t tell them about you or about Poppy. I swear. And I promise.’ But I couldn’t see how the book could end any other way? How could I send this story out into the world without a happy ending? It would be far too depressing. Far too bleak. From Noelle's perspective, in the past) Noelle grew up with two older brothers, two younger brothers and a younger sister who died when she was eight. Noelle comes upon Floyd's book, and goes to a signing. It turns out they both live in the same neighborhood (Stroud Green), a few roads apart. They run into each other later, and eventually go to dinner at a Eritrean restaurant. They see each other for over a year. Noelle does not get along well with SJ. EXCERPT: She had no one to call, no one to ask 'Have you seen Hanna? Do you know where she is?' Her life simply didn't work like that. There were no connections anywhere. Just little islands of life dotted here and there. Hanna pays Laurel to clean her apartment, so Laurel knows that Hanna has not been sleeping at home. Hanna claims she's out partying, but that's not really her personality. Laurel finds some flowers given to Hanna by someone named "T". Laurel also visits her elderly mom who had a stroke many years ago. Her mother Ruby is old, but seems to be holding on hoping for Ellie to be found.

They weren’t bad books,” Phin countered patiently. “They were books that you didn’t enjoy. It’s not the same thing at all. The only bad books are books that are so badly written that no one will publish them. Any book that has been published is going to be a ‘good book’ for someone.” Populated with fantastic characters, this was a fascinating and moving story about obsession, loss, and family. Some suspension of disbelief may be necessary, but it didn’t really bother me, I just enjoyed what I found to be a unique and absorbing story. Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.I'll admit, I figured out the plot of Then She Was Gone fairly soon into the book. While it did detract a bit from my enjoyment of the book as the story continued to unfold, I was still captivated by the way Lisa Jewell teased out the suspense, making you wonder what surprises might pop up. Having never read any of Jewell's books before, I worried she might throw in some outrageous or melodramatic plot elements, and I was pleased that she didn't do that. I’d started nodding before she’d got the last syllable out. Yes, I said. Yes, that’s right, that’s absolutely right.

I’d be open to reading a different book of Jewell’s since I don’t think she’s a bad writer or anything, but the mystery in Then She Was Gone didn’t really do it for me. This ranks for me as a pretty average mystery novel, so I don’t know that I’d really recommend it. I’m open to reading a different book of hers in the future though! Ellie thinks she knows who it might be. But she cannot bring herself to crystallize her suspicions. She’s known something was about to happen, that something was about to change. She’s known it for weeks. Floyd has been less attentive, spent less time with her. She’s heard footsteps overhead, the vague outline of a female voice. There’s been laughter in the house. And when Floyd did come to visit, he was serious and thoughtful, and more concerned, Ellie had felt, about her predicament. Now, this doesn't tend to be a favorite genre of mine. Because of this, it has to be creative and well written to keep me interested. If the author leans on hateable characters (like The Girl on the Train) or other thriller tropes (alcoholism, mental illness, etc.) I tend to find my focus drifting. If the author can find just the right combination of these things, then I will be right there ready to throw more stars their way.Floyd is the second loser in this lovely cast; when he discovers the true origins of his daughter, Poppy, he stalks Laurel, engineers a meeting with her and eventually falls for her. What are the odds of that? A woman goes to the police. She's found a note hidden in a book she got from a used bookstore. The author of the note is Ellie. She writes about Noelle keeping her captive. She says she loves her family and for someone to find Poppy and tell her she loves her.