Description
A missing girl. A search for answers. But what if the past wants to stay buried? In a quiet, coastal town, eighteen-year-old Jessica lets out a gasp, then walks out of the opening night of her own play, ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’. She is never seen again. What did she see? Where did she go? And why did she never come home? Thirty years later, Jessica’s nephew, fourteen-year-old Sam, is still asking the same questions. With the town planning an anniversary performance of ‘The Garden of Lost Girls’, Jessica’s family hope that it will help to jog memories and, perhaps, finally solve the puzzle of Jessica’s disappearance. And Sam’s mum and her other sister want Sam and his cousins, Gracie and Archie, to be in the production to keep an eye out for new information.
At least, that’s the plan. But as the play goes into rehearsal, a series of accidents make it clear to Sam and his cousins that not everyone is happy about the performance—and they’ll do anything to stop it. And when one of them goes missing on the night of the performance, the cousins realise that sometimes history doesn’t always stay in the past.
Review
Sam and his cousins Archie and Gracie are going to be in a play called The Garden of Lost Girls - a play that was written by their aunt, Jessica, when she was eighteen. On the night that the original play was to be performed Jessica disappeared, and thirty years later nobody knows what happened to her.
Sam’s mum and his aunt hope that doing the play again on the anniversary might jog some memories about that night. Sam, Archie and Gracie decide that they might as well investigate themselves, to see if they can find any more clues.
On the first day of rehearsals a mysterious accident nearly injures the three of them, and as time goes by more accidents keep happening. It’s clear someone does not want this play to be performed, which only makes the cousins more determined than ever to help solve the family mystery. Can three teenagers uncover the secrets that have been buried for so long, or will they be stopped before they find the truth?
This is a real page-turner that I read in one sitting. Sam and his cousins have lived their whole lives in the shadow of Jessica’s disappearance, and they are determined to find out what happened to her. There are so many plot twists as they uncover what happened on that night thirty years ago that keep you intrigued right until the end. It’s also a wonderful story of family, family history and genuine friendship between the cousins that goes beyond just being related.
I love a good mystery story, and this is one that I highly recommend. Best suited to those in the lower secondary years.
