mns  2004-11-16 09:46  books   

Missing was published in September 2002 by Review Books Ltd., an imprint of Headline.

Synopsis

'To the outside world we were this perfectly contented happy family - a mother, a father and three little girls. And the truth? Really it was a conspiracy of silence - everyone living a life on the surface while undemeath reality bubbles away' - until the day that it blows up John and Elizabeth Dunville believe they have the ideal family. Their three daughters - beautiful, vivacious Baby, clever, industrious Becky, and lively, if mischievous, Brona - attend Dublin's most prestigious convent school, and all have bright futures. But denial and deception go hand in hand, and one night, one of the girls slips out into the December fog, and doesn't come home.

They said:

The Big Issue in the North 'MISSING is a perceptive and poignant novel exploring the ramifications of loss and abandonment with compassion and a wry, perfectly pitched wit'

Sunday World, Dublin'Mary Stanley creates a fascinating story that is full of intrigue with disturbing and dark moments'

Glasgow Evening Times 'A gripping and mesmerising novel. Skilfully written with bursts of humour, Stanley weaves a compelling web of deception and intrigue'

Sunday Business Post, Dublin 'Touching, intriguing and often humorous'

Available from bookshops and online from Amazon.co.uk.

It has been published in a large print edition by Magna, and is available on audio-cassette.

It was translated and published in Denmark as Savnet . See Cicero's website. It is published in Germany by Knaur as Ohne Eine Spur.

Stephen Cashmore and I have written a film script of Missing, entitled Acts of Contrition.

Full details are available from my agent Caroline Montgomery.