The Vanishing of Margaret Small: An uplifting and page-turning mystery

Product Information

The Goodreads Libra Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog.

Based on true stories Margaret’s story made me so emotional and angry for all those unnecessary lost lives but written in such a warm, honest and often amusing way. Margaret has her own theories about who is sending the parcels and letters, and the chapters from her past contain some very key clues as to why she is so absolutely certain she knows who C is. For all she endures, she’s resilient, and surprisingly lacking in bitterness (about cruelties inflicted on her she mildly states “it wasn’t right”) and wants, more than anything, just to be part of a family.Loved this book from begining to end, thought i would struggle with the sad parts in terms of the difficult childhood however, the overiding theme of this book is strength and resilience so hear warming and profound. The best part about this is anyone can read it, doesn't really belong to a specific kind, just a beautiful tale about the life a women forced to disappear. As a little girl Margaret Small vanishes into a long term institution for children with learning difficulties.

The audiobook is narrated by Annie Aldington who does a remarkable job of bringing Margaret to life, as well as, providing believable voicing to the other characters.Margaret Small ist so eine liebenswürdige Person, die trotz ihrer schweren Vergangenheit eine Leichtigkeit in sich hat, die mich immer wieder in Erstaunen versetzt hat. Aufgefallen ist mir das Buch - ich glaube, auf Facebook - und als ich es als Rezensionsexemplar erhalten habe, freute ich mich sehr. Based upon interviews with 'people with learning disabilities', the author has created a fictionalized tribute to those people, while also reminding us of the dire treatment of these individuals just a few short decades ago. She likes the life she has now, her routine and the people in her life, and the last thing she wants is to be put away again. Almost seven decades later, Margaret, at seventy-five still cannot read, but manages to live alone in her cottage in Whitstable, with frequent visits from Wayne, her support worker.

We follow the life of Margaret Small beginning back in the 60’s and ending up almost to the current day. Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Olliphant’, Matt Cain’s Albert Entwistle, even Fredrik Backman’s Ove – all are debut works with memorably peculiar characters. But Margaret is who she is and I loved her so much for her kind heart and her innocent soul-I was so scared for her throughout and didn’t want her to be hurt anymore that she had been in the past. This poignant story tells of people whom life has denied any of the advantages that we take for granted today. Mr Grey is with the Board of Control and has done a bunch of tests on her: he deposits her at St Mary’s Hospital (for defectives), in Canterbury where she is kept, except for a short episode at another institution, for the next thirty-four years of her life.

Die Thematik rund um lernbeeinträchtigte Menschen und deren Leben in früheren Zeiten war wirklich schockierend und interessant zugleich.