Mystery/Suspense

*If you are new here, WELCOME! For Elizabeth is Missing, I provide your book club with a brief summary and discussion questions in that order!

If you haven’t checked out the previous post in the series where I share my thoughts on Elizabeth is Missing and a fun activity idea for your book club, check out that post HERE.

You can also check out the second post in the series where I share several great food ideas for your book club based on the book HERE.

In this post, I’ll review the premise of Elizabeth is Missing and share book club discussion questions that are sure to get your book club talking!

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*If you are new here, WELCOME! For Elizabeth is Missing, I provide your book club with a brief summary, fun activity ideas, and more!

Has someone you loved battled dementia? If so, you are not alone.

Over 5 million Americans alone have Alzheimer’s. It’s a frightening disease. One many of us don’t like to think about.

And, if you’ve been a caregiver to someone with dementia, you know that the role of caregiver is extremely difficult and often frustrating.

Perhaps you read The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks and related to Noah and Allie’s later-in-life story, but have you read any other books where the characters deal with Alzheimer’s or dementia? Other popular dementia books include Still Alice and The Things We Keep. Both good choices, but let’s talk a little about the featured book, Elizabeth is Missing.

Elizabeth is Missing is a novel about a woman, Maud, who suffers from dementia and believes her best friend, Elizabeth, is missing. The novel is structured like a mystery/suspense and Maud’s current thoughts are often garbled with past memories of the brief period when her sister, Sukey, goes missing after WWII.

Told by Maud, an unreliable narrator due to dementia, it’s a fascinating and empathy-cultivating look into what someone with memory loss endures every single day.

And, if you’ve been in the role of caregiver, you’ll also understand and appreciate Maud’s daughter Helen as she tries to navigate the tricky road of keeping Maud safe while Maud investigates the mystery.

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*If you are new here, WELCOME! For Ordinary Grace, I provide your book club with a brief summary, food ideas, and discussion questions in that order!

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger has been floating around as a potential read for me for some time. Like many of you, my TBR list is quiet long.

After reading This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger earlier this year, I moved Ordinary Grace up that list and I’m so glad I did.

Just like This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace has a young male narrator, but Ordinary Grace differs in that it isn’t an adventure story. It’s a story about a community that fractures when tragedy strikes, but ultimately finds redemption.

It’s a coming-of-age story for Frank Drum and his younger brother, Jake, as they witness the adults in their lives respond to tragedy and try to process their own feelings.

While This Tender Land reminded me of Peace Like a River (both great books you should read if you haven’t!). Ordinary Grace reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird. In Ordinary Grace, the narrator is male and the father figure is a preacher instead of a lawyer, but the same grappling with injustice and tragedy is present.

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