What a shockingly good start to The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue, with one of the main characters, Victoria, committing suicide.A journalist is intrigued by Victoria as she was a close school friend of Louisa, who had disappeared when she was 16yrs, along with their teacher Mr. Lavell. An unsolved mystery for the last 25 yrs and a well known scandal within the community.
Victoria and Louisa had met at Temple House a remote, all Girl's, Catholic School.The only light relief was from Mr. Lavell a charismatic, dreamy rather Bohemian character. Most of the girls had a serious crush on him. However one day he and Louisa just vanished, never to be seen again. The journalist is determined to uncover the truth surrounding their disappearance. Further investigation leads to a love triangle between the three of themwith serious consquences.
The following chapters are writen from the perspectives of the main characters. Sometimes, this can be alittle clumsy as the story changes intermittently from past to present. Having said this I cannot deny the beautiful and heart breaking story of teenage angst, first love, jealousy and unrequited love. Donohue, like many of us, must have had her heart broken, as I don't think you could write so accurateley if you have never had those dark feelings.
This is a emotional rollar coaster of a debut novel. Sometimes, perhaps alittle over descriptive, which distracts from the plot, making it weak and predictable.However I feel Donohue will be on our book shelves for a while to come.
Victoria and Louisa had met at Temple House a remote, all Girl's, Catholic School.The only light relief was from Mr. Lavell a charismatic, dreamy rather Bohemian character. Most of the girls had a serious crush on him. However one day he and Louisa just vanished, never to be seen again. The journalist is determined to uncover the truth surrounding their disappearance. Further investigation leads to a love triangle between the three of themwith serious consquences.
The following chapters are writen from the perspectives of the main characters. Sometimes, this can be alittle clumsy as the story changes intermittently from past to present. Having said this I cannot deny the beautiful and heart breaking story of teenage angst, first love, jealousy and unrequited love. Donohue, like many of us, must have had her heart broken, as I don't think you could write so accurateley if you have never had those dark feelings.
This is a emotional rollar coaster of a debut novel. Sometimes, perhaps alittle over descriptive, which distracts from the plot, making it weak and predictable.However I feel Donohue will be on our book shelves for a while to come.