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ClareR (5841 KP) rated The Temple House Vanishing in Books

Feb 27, 2020

The Temple House Vanishing is set in an elite Convent School (Roman Catholic, all girls, lots of masses, praying and rampant oestrogen). The nuns run a tight ship - or so they think. Mr Lavelle is a young, bohemian-type character, and a fair few of the girls are in love with him. Particularly Victoria.

Louisa joins the school late as a scholarship student, and is generally looked down on by the fee-paying girls, but she and Victoria become good friends. Everything seems to be improving for Louisa. Until, that is, she disappears along with Mr Lavelle. Everyone assumes that they have run away together, and the staff and students are of no help. They close ranks. No-one wants to be involved.

Until, that is, a journalist becomes involved with retelling the story on its 25th anniversary. She manages to speak to the Head Girl at the time, and after many persistent emails, with Victoria. And this time, Victoria talks about what happened.

I liked this very much. I liked the atmosphere of the school - even though it wasn't particularly nice it was described well, especially the way the girls ganged up together to pick on whoever they assumed was the weakest link. I especially liked the journalists chapters, particularly when it became clear that she had something of a vested interest in finding out what happened to Louisa - Louisa had been her babysitter when she was a child.

This isn't a 'hold on to your hat' story. There's no-one to save - whatever happened, happened 25 years ago. It's all about WHAT happened and WHO was involved. And in the end, it's all rather sad.

I really enjoyed this, particularly the way the story unfolded. I think the teenagers emotions were described as well as the adults, and it was easy to empathise with them when necessary, and despair at their teenaged reactions and angst.

This book is well worth a read.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book!