A missing child sets the lives of three women on a collision course in this powerful and compelling novel by USA Today bestselling author Bette Lee Crosby.1971.When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed. On the final night, a storm muffles the sound of the blaring music, and Rachel tucks her baby into bed before … her baby into bed before falling into a deep sleep. So deep, she doesn’t hear the kitchen door opening. When she and her husband wake up in the morning, the crib is empty. Emily is gone.
Vicki Robart is one of the thousands at the festival, but she’s not feeling the music. She’s feeling the emptiness over the loss of her own baby several months before. When she leaves the festival and is faced with an opportunity to fill that void, she is driven to an act of desperation that will forever bind the lives of three women.
When the truth of what actually happened that fateful night is finally exposed, shattering the lives they’ve built, will they be able to pick up the pieces to put their families back together again?
Winner of the Royal Palm Literary Award for Women’s Fiction; the Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal for Southern Fiction; and the FAPA President’s Book Award for Women’s Fiction.
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This was a deeply emotional read. It captured me from the start and drew me deeper and deeper into the hearts and lives of Rachel and Vicki. The descriptive prose flowed beautifully and made this heart-wrenching story a pleasure to read.
I voluntarily read an advanced review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley and I offer my honest opinion in response.
I love Bette Lee Crosby’s books, and Emily, Gone is just as fantastic as the others I have read. The characters are so real that while I was reading, the story played out in my mind. I watched and grieved with one set of main characters while celebrating with the other. Bette Lee Crosby’s writing flows so well and is so believable that it always feels like she has experienced everything that occurs in her books personally. If you are a fan of Southern Fiction, give this a read!
I received an advanced readers copy of this book.
Crosby has written an exceptional book that raises questions about love, family, faith, and forgiveness. This one will stay with me for quite some time.
A music festival shook the quiet town of Hesterville, Georgia, with its loud music and with the kidnapping of Rachel and George Dixon’s baby.
The Dixons had been exhausted from lack of sleep because of the music festival, didn’t hear anyone enter the house through the unlocked door, and awoke to find their baby’s crib empty.
We find out that, Vicki, one of the festival goers had just lost her baby, chose a random house to enter to find food, but instead found her lost baby waiting in the crib and took her as her own.
When Vicki came back to the car with a bundle under her coat, her boyfriend, Murph, didn’t question anything until he found out what she had done.
Both Murph and Vicki had plans for the baby, but the plans were not the same. Murph had plans to return the baby, but Vicki had plans to keep the baby and took off without him.
We follow the Dixon family and Vicki in this beautiful, but heart wrenching story where one family’s life is turned upside down and another supposedly becomes happy.
Ms. Crosby has outdone herself with EMILY GONE as she paired her amazing writing, her amazing characters, and her heartfelt story lines with a new twist – a mystery.
EMILY GONE has tender moments, sad moments, happy moments, and many moments that need tissues.
I didn’t want to put this heartwarming book filled with Bette Lee Crosby’s signature warmth down.
Her books feel like a huge hug. 5/5
This book was given to me as an ARC by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Bette Lee Crosby sure knows how to write books that will tug at your heartstrings, and Emily, Gone did just that to me. This is a beautiful story of faith, family, love and forgiveness with wonderful characters that were very believable. This is one that will pull you right in from the start and won’t want to put down. I stayed up way too late reading this one but it was worth losing sleep over. The ending will leave you teary-eyed so have those tissues handy. I highly recommend Emily, Gone.
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions are my own.
I received the book Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby from Netgalley in exchange for my fair and honest review. This was a wonderful read, I found it heartbreaking at times and could feel the parents pain at the kidnapping of their daughter. I felt so many emotions come to the surface as I read this book. I could feel myself connecting with the characters of the book, was it right for Vickie to take the baby, no of course not but I can also understand the need to replace her lost child. You will shed tears as you read this wonderful story. It was beautifully written and I would certainly recommend this book to others.
Emily, Gone is a compelling story of loss, love, and forgiveness. Can a wronged mother overcome grief? Will justice be demanded for terrible deeds? Emily, Gone, as told by masterful storyteller Bette Lee Crosby, will make you rethink what it means to forgive—and to rejoice in the power of healing hearts.
A baby is missing from her crib, when her parents wake in the morning. Three families lives are impacted by the loss. A story of heartbreak, unresolved grief, and impossible attempts to rebuild their lives. We see the kindness of family and friends that struggle to support the parents in their loss, and the endless search for this child.
This is a heart wrenching story, beautifully written by Bette Lee Crosby. Her characters are well developed and human, as we get to know them and their own stories. A page turner that had me thinking about the outcome, long after I finished that last chapter. My thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC for my honest review. I hope I did justice to this wonderful book.
The setting of this book is in a small town in Georgia. Its 1971, and there is a music festival in a field, (reminded me of Woodstock) . Rachel Dixon lives near by, and puts her 6 month old baby girl Emily to bed. At the music festival is another woman, Vicki, who had lost her baby only months before. She finds her way to the home of The Dixons in search of food, but when she sees the baby, she takes her. Rachel awakes and finds her baby gone, and their lives are torn apart.
The book was so well written, full of suspense and yes, tears. I found myself unable to put this book down!! Its a book that will stay with you after you read it. Thanks so much at Netgalley and Bette Lee Crosby for this wonderful read!
An exceptional read that will not disappoint. True Bette Lee Crosby style.
Emily, Gone is constructed by flawless writing, superb story line and an emotional weave that will hold you captive to this tragic yet touching narrative. A story I highly recommend.
It’s gripping, it’s complicated, thought-provoking and beautiful…..you will not read this story, you will live it.
A desperate act, a desperate woman, turns the lives of many upside down and sideways. One lie spins into another, and another. Hearts are crushed, prayers are plenty, and a town crippled by heartbreak comes to together while grieving, and moves too support and lift a family crushed by the weight of tragedy.
Emily, Gone will have you tied-up in tears, fill your heart with hope, and will consistently draw you in as you turn each page. You’ll find yourself falling in love with these small-town characters who never give up and hold tight to love and healing by staying true to their strong southern values.
I’d like to thank Bette Lee Crosby for my personal ARC gift of Emily, Gone…..a story that will stay with me for a very long time.
5 Stars
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Emily Gone by Bette Lee Crosby is a book whose story will stay with you long after you’ve finished the last page. It is the haunting unfolding of a mother’s love for her child and the complications and heartache that follow when a child disappears. Ms. Crosby’s style of storytelling is compelling, encouraging you to linger on each page as the voices of the characters speak to you. A must read!
The year was 1971 and there was a huge music festival right outside of town. The people at the festival were all hippies and there were lots of drugs to take and share…what they didn’t have was enough food and since there were more people at the festival than expected, the small town of Hesterville had bare shelves. In a small house not too far from the festival, as the crow flies, live the Dixon family – George who owned the hardware store in town, his wife Rachel and their 6 month old baby Emily. The noise from the music festival was so loud that they couldn’t sleep and Emily kept them awake with her crying. When the baby finally went to sleep, George and Rachel both fell into a deep sleep and never heard Vicki, come into their house looking for food and leaving with Emily. When Vicki’s boyfriend, Murph, found out that she had taken a baby, he panics and doesn’t know what to do. Vicki had recently lost her baby during pregnancy and was convinced that Emily was really her baby. When George and Rachel get up in the morning, they can’t believe the Emily is gone. “He saw Rachel standing beside the empty crib. her eyes were wide with horror, her face a ghastly white and her entire body shaking as she choked back the sound of a sob.” (loc 416)
Will George and Rachel ever find Emily again or will Vicki and Murph raise her as their own? This book is full of twists and turns and lots of tears. Bette Lee Crosby can write family drama better than most authors today and she does a wonderful job of presenting both sides of an issue. I cried with Rachel at the loss of her daughter but I was also sympathetic to Vicki and Vicki’s sister, Angela. Rachel is convinced that Emily is alive somewhere and prays that she is with someone who make sure that she is safe and happy.
This is an intense book that will keep you turning the pages, hoping and praying that Emily will be returned to her family. It’s also a wonderful story about importance of family and friends; love and hope. It is a book that will make you feel the pain of a mother with a missing child and her attempts to go back to living her life. It will make you cry – not just at the end but several times throughout the book as families are formed and re-formed. It was a wonderful book and I highly recommend it.
Thanks to the author for a copy of this book to read and review. All opinions are my own.
The first page drew me in. I could feel the rumble of the music and feel the sweat of the crowd. This is a story I will remember. The tears flowed while reading. Each twist and turn of the lives of the characters brought more emotions to the surface. I could feel the pain of all of the parents at each moment. A great story. Bring the tissues. I received a complimentary copy of the book. No review was required.
A beautifully woven story of love, loss, forgiveness and faith. My heat broke for all the women in this story; all struggling to survive the loss of a child in more ways than one. Bette is a great story teller and weaves these characters together beautifully. Have a tissue nearby! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC
Another heartwarming read by Bette Lee Crosby. I’ve read quite a few of this author’s books and always come away feeling like reading her books is time well spent.
Emily, Gone begins when a Woodstock type event is going on in a very small town. Somehow someone takes Emily and the Dixon family is nearly torn apart with grief, anger and all the many emotions tied up in having your child stolen.
In true BLC fashion, there is healing on several levels in this story. I think that is what repeatedly draws me to her work, the thought that love and healing can come, given time and the right circumstances. In this instance there were several examples of this and it always gives me hope.
As always, the writing is sublime, the story line fascinating and the pages continue to turn faster and faster until the end is sadly reached. Almost all of these wonderful characters were people I’d enjoy knowing, maybe even joining in rocking on the porch with a glass of sweet tea.
If you enjoy small town America, good old fashioned morals and values, love for your fellow man and a darn good feel good story, Bette Lee Crosby and Emily, Gone are for you.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an ARC of this novel at my request. My thoughts in this review are my own.
This was such an amazing book – I finished it a couple of days ago and am still thinking about it. Bette Lee Crosby did an amazing job conveying the sense of loss experienced by Rachel Dixon when her baby daughter, Emily, was kidnapped. She also did an amazing job with the character of Vicki, the woman who took Rachel’s daughter. At first, it’s easy to crucify Vicki as a monster for taking another woman’s child, but as the story unfolds you can see the events that unfolded that drove her to do so and the psychological issues she was dealing with (which of course still did not make the kidnapping okay). This is a book that you won’t want to put down once you start. It grips you from the beginning and keeps you hooked as you hope that somehow Emily is found and reunited with the Dixon’s. I highly recommend this book!
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.
I listened to the audio version of this book and what an awesome book it was! Bette Lee Crosby has written a story that is haunting in the anguish that some of the characters go through. It really got to me, because we had a similar thing happen here in Kansas City about eight years ago. The parents woke to find their baby gone from her room. How awful is it to not know how or where your child is?
This story isn’t only about the anguish. It is so much more. It is about compassion, forgiveness, love of all kinds and the will to carry on. There were surprises along the way that just kept me guessing.
Loved, loved, loved this book. It was my book clubs choice for next month.
The narration by Donna Postel was spot on. All her voices were incredible.
Be prepared for raw emotions…A baby is stolen from its crib in the middle of the night. The parents are devastated. Grief-stricken. But I felt compassion for the woman who raises the baby. How can that be? This beautifully written book will break your heart, but it is equally heartwarming. I found myself with conflicting emotions throughout the book.
The women in this book are the epitome of motherly love. With themes of family, loss, faith, and forgiveness, and filled with wonderful characters I was completely enthralled with this story.
Complex. A definite page-turner. Bette Lee Crosby proves herself to be a masterful storyteller.
I loved this book even though it left me feeling like my heart had been wrung out.
I gave this book 10 stars. It is a page turner and at time I was on the edge of my seat…… Could’t turn the pages fast enough but didn’t want to miss something.
Very well written.
I can’t even imagine having a child stolen but in Emily, Gone, talented author, Bette Lee Crosby, has done an incredible job of portraying the emotions and reactions of a family whose child is taken and of the thoughts and actions of the kidnappers. So many twists to the story that interest is kept high and the pages almost turn themselves. It is an amazing journey of loss and grief, and hope and forgiveness for the three women whose lives are impacted by the kidnapping. Donna Postel does a great job of narrating Emily’s heartbreaking story which makes for an enjoyable listening experience. I listened to a complementary copy of the audio book and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.