Description
Book Synopsis“Like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, De Gregorio takes a true story and reveals what life cannot. Extraordinary.”–Grazia
Irina’s life with her husband and her twin daughters is orderly. An Italian living in Switzerland, she works as a lawyer. One day, something breaks. The marriage ends without apparent trauma, but on a weekend seemingly like any other, the girls’ father takes Alessia and Livia away with him. They disappear.
A few days later the man takes his own life. Of the girls, there is no trace.
Concita De Gregorio takes the unadorned, terrible facts of this true story and embodies the protagonist’s voice. In a narrative that is fast and urgent, she unravels these traumatic events to tell the story of a mother bereft of her children – a state for which there is no word.
An urgently told story and a fierce portrait of a woman in all her frailty and courage, The Missing Word delves deep into Irina’s thoughts and memories as she grasps at the shreds of truth and, piece by piece, stitches her life back together.
Trade Review"[The Missing Word] is, most wonderfully and strangely, a book about making an accommodation with something unbearable." * Catherine Taylor, Irish Times *
“Crime from other climes is also satisfyingly in evidence with The Missing Word , in which the familiar scenario of the implosion of a perfect family is given a provocative twist (the translation by Clarissa Botsford is as impressive as one would expect from the publisher, Europa editions).” * Barry Forshaw, CrimeTime *
“Delving deep beneath the surface of one woman’s grief to leave a lasting impression, this heartfelt novel offers itself up as a much-needed space – full of words of comfort and advice – for that as-of-yet nameless group of people who have existed without a voice for far too long.” * Buzz Magazine *
"Like Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, De Gregorio takes a true story and reveals what life cannot. Extraordinary." * Grazia *
"From a tragic true story, a book about love and the saving power of words." * Panorama *
“Moving and intense." * Il Piccolo *
