Since You've Been Gone

Since You've Been Gone by Mary Jennifer Payne

Publisher: Dundurn

February 2015

ISBN: 978-1459728189

Pages: 224

Contemporary, Suspense, Young Adult, Romantic Elements

Toronto, Canada and London, England

Edie Fraser is fifteen years old.  She and her mother, Sydney, have been trying to outrun their pasts for the past five years.  Things were bad before but now they are even worse.  Edie is in a new school and if that wasn’t bad enough she is now in a different country. 

Sydney has promised Edie that they are finally going to get a fresh start.  So Edie is doing her best to adjust to their new life in London, England.  In spite of the fact she is being targeted by the school bully.  Then Sydney goes out to work one night and doesn’t come home.  Now Edie is terrified that the past has finally caught up to them.

Edie is now alone in a strange country and is too afraid to call the police for fear she will be sent back to her father who is abusive.  Edie is determined to find her mother.  She is now faced with the most difficult decision of her life especially since she has no idea where to start. 

This is a story that will pull at readers heart strings.  It handles an emotional subject very well while not letting it drag the storyline down.  Edie proves to be very resourceful as she goes about trying to find her mother in a place she has no idea of what is where.  The story has some action and moves along at a pretty fast pace and it keeps moving forward.  Reading what Edie is going through as she tries to find the answers she needs pulls the reader in until the very end.  While there are some heavy subjects in the story the story itself doesn’t get too dark or depressing and it makes for a very interesting book. This is one story that is worth taking the time to read.

I give this one 4-1/2 red roses

LRH