Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - The Gone and the Forgotten

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The Gone and the Forgotten by Clare Whitfield

1 review

shelfofunread's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Clare Whitfield’s second novel, The Gone and the Forgotten, is billed as part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel. I’d add to that by saying that it’s also part Gothic-inspired mystery, part family drama, and, in its entirety, a creepy and compelling read with some seriously dark psychological undertones.

Set on the remote island of Noost, The Gone and the Forgotten follows 16-year-old Prue as she endeavours to find out the truths behind the many silences that lie at the heart of her damaged and fractured family. Instead of a long-overdue chat with her Aunt Ruth, however, Prue is confronted with more forbidden pasts and long-held secrets on Noost, including the sudden disappearance of a local girl twenty years previously. And as the mysteries of Prue’s own past combine with those that lie beneath the historic disappearance of the beguiling Evelyn O’Hara, it isn’t long before Prue comes to realise that unravelling the past might be more of a curse than a blessing.

Prue makes for an interesting – if not entirely empathetic – narrator who comes complete with more than the requisite amount of angst and drama. Her voice reminded me, in many ways, of the protagonist of Emma Cline’s The Girls and, if you enjoyed that book’s fraught examination of a teenage girl’s coming-of-age, then I think The Gone and the Forgotten will appeal also. As with that protagonist, Prue doesn’t always make the smartest of decisions but, crucially, they always felt authentic, especially once the trauma of Prue’s past is fully revealed.

Because this is a book that comes chocked full of family drama and traumatic secrets. Whilst I don’t want to give away any spoilers, readers should be aware that the novel deals with suicide (and features a flashback to a suicide attempt), pregnancy, toxic relationships, gaslighting, child sexual abuse, child death, and murder. It also features scenes containing drug use and sexual content (including one scene that borders on rape/coercion), and the majority of the characters would benefit from several sessions with a very well-qualified therapist.

With revelations coming thick and fast, The Gone and the Forgotten is definitely a book that kept the pages turning. I did find myself guessing one of two of the plot beats and twists but Clare Whitfield manages to pack so much emotion into the pages that, for the most part, I was too absorbed in the plot to care about the occasional cliché. The novel really manages to capture both what it is like to be a frustrated, isolated, and confused 16-year-old – angry at the secrets being kept from her, and desperate to make sense of herself, the world around her, and her own place within it – and the ways in which that emotional melting pot makes Prue very vulnerable.

The novel also practically oozes atmosphere especially when it comes to the descriptions of Dynrost House – Prue’s ‘home’ on Noost – and the island landscape surrounding it. A real sense of desolation and isolation leaps off the page and there were several times when I wanted to reach into the book, grab Prue, and get her running for the Mainland ferry as fast as her legs could carry her! Some of the character writing felt a little more stilted in places – there were a couple of characters who just screamed ‘wrong ‘un’ to me the moment they arrived on the page – but, for the most part, I could suspend my disbelief and immerse myself in the complex tangle of damaging secrets and dangerous lies that lay behind the facades of MacArthur and Anderson families. I was also impressed by the way that Clare Whitfield managed to maintain a hold on several complex plot strands and to tie them together in a fitting way at the end.

The Gone and the Forgotten made for a quick and compelling read. Packing plenty of emotional punch and featuring an evocative setting, the unfolding dramas and unsettling revelations soon had me wholly immersed in the psychological darkness of Prue’s world.

NB: This review appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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