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Jean L. (Rogers, AR)
Temple House School
"Perched high atop a cliff in Ireland, a lonely Victorian mansion is home to Temple House School."
The house itself sets the tone for the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Louisa, a scholarship student at the school, and her art teacher, Mr. Lavelle. It had been assumed by many that they had disappeared together.
The author, Rachel Donahue, paints a vivid picture of this mansion-school. It is a cold and dreary place. It is the perfect setting for a mystery. With the power of words this school is almost an actual character in this book.
A young newspaper reporter has been assign to write a series of articles
…more by her editor about the disappearance of the student and the teacher nearly twenty-five earlier. She is the detective, and she will find the answers to the mystery. In doing so, she will shatter the lives of others.
Other themes in this story include coming of age, love, and unrequited love.
This is not a happy book. There is no happily-ever-after for anyone. The author moves the reader to want to know what really happened to the student and the teacher. (less)Through the usage of alternating sections, Rachel Donohue in her novel,The Temple House Vanishing, introduces the reader to Louisa, Victoria and their teacher, Mr. Lavelle. All three of these individuals are troubled and struggling to find their place in the world. The first part of the novel started off slow for me. Trying to understand the interaction between Louisa, Victoria and Mr. Lavelle took some rereading on my part. I started to wonder if I even wanted to finish the book. Since that is something, I rarely do, I continued. Once the section with the journalist began, the author caught me. Now I was into
…more the mystery of the disappearance and as anxious to find out just exactly what happened and who was hiding what. The fact that the journalist lived across the street from Louisa only added to the mystery. Slowly through the alternating views of events, we learn more about these troubled people and how the mixture of them at an all-girls Catholic boarding school lead to tragedy. Regardless of my issue with the slow start, I would recommend this book. (less)This book tells a good story, and during most of the book I did not want to put it down. The ending is believable. However the book does drag at the end. Perhaps a bit more editing might have been useful.
This is a coming-of-age story and the characters and relationships are well done. The setting is atmospheric, taking place in a Catholic girls' boarding school in Ireland in the 1990s. The story presents a mystery that needs to be solved. I was looking for escapist literature and this book delivers!
Sandra G. (Loveland, CO)
Teenage angst leads to tragedy
On page three Victoria commits suicide. The rest of the novel is a slow unraveling of the mystery that led to her action. In the prologue the author wrote, " There are no heroes in the story." How true. This novel is completely devoid of joy; no one is happy. For that reason, it was somewhat unsettling to read. I felt such sympathy for Louisa, whose depressing assessment of herself was, "I wasn't good enough. I hadn't been enough. There was something about me that made people not want me." This book would be a solid book club choice.
Marion C. (Peabody, MA)
The Mystery Solved
The Temple House Vanishing involves the disappearance of a student and teacher from an Old Catholic boarding school in Ireland. The mystery was unsolved for twenty-five years until a reporter investigates the events of that evening. She uses the point-of-view of the individuals involved to unlock the mystery. The novel is a fast read and brought back memories of my own teenage years. This is the author's first novel, and I believe she will have a long, successful career.
Mary C. (Plano, TX)
Ephemeral Days
I read a lot of mysteries, but this one had me hooked from the first paragraph. As I began reading, I wondered how this novel would compare to the many others I have read. The opening paragraph was edgy and succinct. The prologue had a unique quality about that made me want to read more! This is a chilling sort of story that starts at the end and then begins anew at the beginning. The author's phrasing contains interesting descriptions. When the journalist talks about getting to know the people she is investigating, she says that getting know them is "like cleaning an old painting, their faces start to emerge
…more from the dust." I was immersed in the novel, wanting to know the characters better, what made them tick. The whole process of knowing them was foggy, like the Irish mist that sometimes permeated the setting. I saw it all through a veil of mist. The author has a description of the setting, the Temple House, that fairly drops the reader in that place, but there is not a great effort at foreshadowing. The reader must make up her own mind, as does the journalist, about the setting and the characters. I liked the technique.
The sections of the book change narrators. Often it takes the reader a few paragraphs or pages before the narrator is named. This slowed me down, which I did not care for. (less)In her debut novel, the Temple House Vanishing, Rachel Donoghue has chosen an unusual structure for a mystery. In the prologue, one of the main characters, a woman who is apparently successful, walks to the top of her ten floor building and jumps off. It is in the story, told from the point of view of her former classmate and a journalist looking back at what happened 25 years ago, that she takes us through the why. It is difficult to talk about the plot without spoilers so I will just tell you that it revolves around what happened at an isolated girls boarding school run by nuns. The main characters are
…more Victoria, the woman who jumped, her friend Louisa, who is a scholarship student, Mr. Lavelle, a handsome young charismatic art teacher at the school, and Helen, the head girl. As the story unfolds you see the clashes of class, the restrictions of religious practices, the toxic atmosphere created by the leading girl clique, and the dangers of handsome young teachers in a school full of girls just beginning to understand their sexuality. This was a complex and interesting read with great insight into the struggle faced by a young woman who is trying to find her way in an unfamiliar world with little support. (less)If you are a woman who felt like an outcast in school, you will recognize the characters at the Temple House girls' school. The usual cliques are already settled in when Louisa, a scholarship student, arrives at the school. Adolescent girls can be mean, and Louisa is intelligent but socially undeveloped and is used to being known as the smart girl at her local school. She finds the rules at Temple House, official and unofficial, confusing.
She finally becomes friendly with Victoria, a fellow student who doesn't really fit in either. Another main character is a handsome, charismatic art teacher. The story
…more alternates between Louisa's point of view and that of a journalist who, 25 years after the events in the story, is writing a piece on the things that happened at the school then.
We gradually learn more about Louisa's brief time at Temple House. The tension builds throughout, and at the end all is revealed. I was disappointed by some loose ends, but overall, I enjoyed the book and look forward to seeing more from this author. (less)
