One Puzzling Afternoon by Emily Critchley

One Puzzling Afternoon is a wonderfully, sensitive, beautifully told story in which the main character, Edie, in the early stages of dementia tries to remember something she knows was very important which happened to her best friend Lucy back in 1951. This riveting read which flashes back to that mysterious day, and what led up to it, to the present day which in this case is 2018, follows Edie’s desperate journey as she tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together as to what happened to Lucy before her crumbling memory makes it impossible.

As 84-year-old Edie walks down the street, she suddenly sees a young girl who looks exactly like her best friend from when they were teenagers. She knows it’s her! But her best friend Lucy would be the same age as Edie, so she is confused. But that sighting sets Edie on an incredibly difficult adventure.

Edie realizes she knows something about Lucy which no one else knows. But for the life of her she can’t remember what it is. Lucy disappeared one afternoon back in 1951 and was never seen again. There were so many theories on what happened to her, but Edie for some reason feels they are all wrong.

So, Edie tells her family about Lucy, although she knows she’s confused while explaining the story. Her family feels Edie is just confused as she has just been diagnosed with dementia and is forgetting quite a great deal. So much so she can’t really live alone anymore, and they are selling her house and buying one so she can live with them.

Growing up in 1951 Edie was a teased teenage girl with no friends whose father had died and whose mother did the best she could to make money. She worked as a psychic with Edie’s help and that was frowned upon back in the day. And then when her mother remarried, Edie’s life was made even more miserable by this overbearing man who had such distain for her.

And then for some reason Lucy Theddle, a popular, beautiful, rich girl became her friend…and her world changed! They were inseparable and told each other all their secrets. Well Lucy told Edie. And then something happened. And Lucy was just gone.

And now it’s up to Edie to figure out what happened that day. She remembers parts, but not all and what she remembers is jumbled. One thing for sure, she knows she promised Lucy she would never tell. But what was it she was not supposed to tell? What does Edie know?

For Edie, she knows it’s a race against time to figure this out and without the support of her family she just hopes she’ll be able to do this for Lucy before all is forgotten.

One Puzzling Afternoon is a unique story which looks at what happens when someone’s brain begins to fail them, and the despair of their family as they try and navigate a situation which will never get better, only worse.

Thank you #NetGalley #Sourcebooks/Landmark #OnePuzzingAfternoon #EmilyCritchley for the advanced copy.