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 such a good book! It kept my attention and kept me turning the pages quickly. It was sad, it was happy, so many emotions in one book. Loved the characters and loved the book!!!
Thank you Netgalley for the early copy!
Absolutely loved this book!
Run! Don’t walk! Go get this book now!
What a heart wrenching story of loss and a mother’s love for her child. An exquisitely written story of loss, healing, love, and family as only Bette Lee Crosby can tell. Keep you tissues close because you will need them!
This book was a page turner for me. It was well written & kept me guessing. It has a twist near the end that I did not see coming. I will definitely read this author again. I would give 4 1/2 stars if I could.
Wonderful story about a young baby stolen from her crib, in the 1970’s. A page turner which takes the reader on a journey with the family, as well the the family of the kidnapper. A journey of heartbreak, of joy, of forgiveness and new beginnings!
Emily, Gone is a tale about the enduring spirit of mothers. A story of deep sorrow, tragic loss, and overcoming heartbreaking bouts of hopelessness. And finally a story of rebuilding lives full of hope and forgiveness.
Bring a box of tissues. This story is gut-wrenching and every mother’s worst nightmare. It happened during a music festival; too many people and loud music. When the Dixon family finally got to sleep they were in so deep they did not hear the person who got into the house and stole Emily.
Vicki, who lost her own child to stillbirth, was the one who took Emily and ran off to raise the baby as her own. But circumstances changed somewhat, Emily ends up getting raised by Vicki’s sister, and then you start to wonder when or if these families will be able to tie up the loose endings of this abduction.
I always love reading Crosby’s books because she always writes stories that give you a heartwarming feeling of love, family and secrets. She tells a story that makes you angry, makes you smile and finally makes you believe in love again.
Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for this ARC.
Another great read by this author, her stories are compelling and moving, characters that are very likable and her stories pull me in to the situations that are going on, this time we are in the south of America, it starts in 1971 with the kidnapping of a six month old baby girl Emily and what the parents and the child go through a captivating page turner.
There is a music festival in the town of Hesterville Georgia and Rachel and George Dixon are having a hard time firstly getting their baby Emily to sleep and getting some themselves, finally all three fall into a deep sleep, but when Rachel awakes in the morning her daughter’s crib is empty, the grief is overwhelming it is so hard to explain the pain they felt.
Vicki and her partner Murph are having a great time at the music festival high on music and marijuana, but when it is time to leave Vicki is really hungry and insists that he stop at a farm house even though it is the middle of the night so as she can try to get food, but when she walks into the house and sees the baby bottle on the sink her heart breaks all over again for the child she had lost not long before and takes this beautiful little girl with her, changing a lot of lives.
This was a very moving story, it shows the strength that people can pull from within as they struggle with everyday life, it shows what family and friends will do for each other and it shows how people can forgive and show compassion. I did very much enjoy this story, years of searching comes to and end and I am sure that fate played a big part, this is a story that I highly recommend.
It didn’t take me a long time to feel committed to this book, as the characters were realistic and I instantly felt connected to the story of both families involved in what was both a blessing and a tragedy. I loved Bette Lee Crosby’s use of metaphors and I’ll be on the hunt for more of her books.
All I can say is, Wow! This book was amazing! Emily, Gone is written in such a way that you can feel every emotion right to the core. Make sure you have your tissues close by. This is a story about a Mother’s worst nightmare, how life changed for everyone involved, and the fantastic ending. I would recommend that you read this absolutely wonderful story!
Emily, Gone was so emotional! I enjoyed how the story was portrayed, especially Rachel’s. Rachel and her husband live out a ways from town with their baby. One week, there is a music festival out near their house despite the town’s protests. Thousands of people arrive to stay for the festival and the music is loud and unending for days as they all party in the field. One morning, Rachel finds the crib empty and the baby Emily is gone. What happens next is the story of the pain that Rachel goes through after Emily disappears. And the story of what happened to Emily. Author Bette Lee Crosby writes the story with great detail and deep emotion of an unimaginable family loss and pain. Rachel’s journey after Emily disappears is so moving! I enjoyed all of the characters, as well as their stories and how their relationships were portrayed.
Wow! An exhilarating story that could have been plucked from the media headlines. A page Turner from beginning to end. Certainly one not to be missed. One of the best of 2019 so far!
It is very fitting that I read this book in one day on Mother’s Day because it is ultimately a study of the love a mother has for a child. I thought that the author did a fantastic job of laying out the plot and there were enough gentle twists for it all to be plausible. I only wish that there had been more of a resolution with Murphy; it seemed as if he was just forgotten, and I would have liked to have seen him have some closure. Other than that point, I thought the dual message of hope and faith was powerful, and I loved how everything played out. I highly recommend this book. For some more in-depth thoughts on this novel, visit my blog at Fireflies and Free Kicks Fiction Reviews. Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for a complimentary digital ARC.
Emily, Gone is a beautifully written story of loss, love, betrayal, heartbreak and forgiveness. This is a book that you can’t help but read through until the end. With so many twists and turns, both heartbreaking and loving the reader doesn’t know what will happen until near the very end. Will the truth tear two families apart or bring them together?
Bette Lee Crosby is one of the most extraordinary writers of Women’s Fiction this reader has ever read. I found myself running the gamut of emotions with this story. There were times when I wanted to put the book down but couldn’t because I had to know what would happen next.
I definitely recommend this book as a must read. It may be difficult to get through at first because it pulls a your emotions but is worth it!
Thank you #netgalley, #lakeunionpublishing and #betteleecrosby for allowing me to read this extraordinary book. I was given this book by those mentioned for a fair and honest review. Above you will find that review.
I absolutely loved this novel. It was a heartbreaking story in many regards- what mother can’t image the horror of discovering her baby has been stolen from her crib during the night? I related to Rachel so much- the bone-tired exhaustion of new motherhood, the unrelenting drive to keep Emily alive in her memory, her reluctance to move through her grief towards a happy life without her daughter… it was all rendered so beautifully in Rachel’s character. And I understood (but obviously didn’t condone) Vicky’s actions too, having miscarried a baby myself and felt that vast emptiness that takes the space where your hopes and dreams for that child once resided. It’s not hard to see how a woman already fragile from abuse would be so psychologically broken that the line between fantasy & reality become blurred.
I was sucked into the story from the first page. It was so well written and captivating that even when I wasn’t reading, I was thinking about the story. I think it will appeal to women who enjoy stories about people who are flawed, about how one choice can set off a chain reaction with far-reaching consequences, and about the resilience of mothers.
I loved this richly moving novel about the strength of a mother’s love and found it completely engrossing from the first page to the last. Put it on your must-read list. You won’t be disappointed.
Emily, Gone is an intriguing story of one child but three mothers, their paths blending together in a flawless yet heartbreaking page-turner that will keep you reading late into the night, chasing the happily ever after.
It’s a nightmare no parent would want to endure, that of waking to find your child is gone, her crib empty. Emily, Gone is a heartrending portrait of one such couple whose love and trust in one another and in their married life is tested beyond imaginable limits. But who could do such a thing, take someone’s child? It’s a compelling mystery, one that will keep you turning the pages. A poignant, compassionate, and engrossing book, this is a story that explores the bonds of love and family, the fragility of hope and faith, and the often difficult ground of forgiveness.
Emily, Gone is a story of family lost and found, a poignant, engrossing tale that explores the unbreakable ties of family and the toll of secrets. Bette Lee Crosby takes an unthinkable situation and weaves a beautiful novel of enduring power. A must-read.
Emily, Gone
5 Stars
Omg! Wow! Wow! Bette totally blew me away on this story! What an amazing emotional ride! Very very well written! What a real captivating story! Love the characters! Very superb! Absolutely loved!!
Definitely a must-read! Just beautiful!