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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I really enjoy this author’s books. This story was a pull at the heart strings. There are so many moving parts to this story that each have different emotions. Crosby really breaks down each character and helps you to visualize their role in this compelling story of loss, family and forgiveness.
On a stormy night, a baby is kidnapped from its crib by a woman whose baby was stillborn. The parents faith, the strength of her mother-in-law and knowing that the town continues to look for the baby helps the heartbroken parents feel that someday they may see their child again.. The mother-in-law encourages Rachel to hold on to the good memories and push the painful ones aside and to make room for forgiveness. As George and Rachel go through the years holding on to each other, they never know if their daughter’s kidnapper could be a stranger or even a next door neighbor. This book will keep you guessing until close to the end! Enjoy and see how having a forgiving heart can bring happiness and peace to so many! I was given an ARC by Netgalley for an honest review.
The mantra of this beautiful heart-filled novel is “If you believe, prayers can come true.”
Bette Lee Crosby has an amazing ability to pull my heart right into the pages of her stories. This book did just that!
An awful thunder storm, in the middle of the night. Her Mom and Dad sleeping in the next room, and Emily is abducted and just gone!
How do you go on as parents who lose their only child? Do you ever forget or stop caring and thinking about that precious baby? Do your prayers change?
How do you learn to trust, love and go forward each day?
A remarkable journey of two families whose lives will intersect because of one sweet girl.
Excellent!
*Tissues were needed.*
Well written heartwrenching story.Faith and love help a mother get through the darkest days of her life after a tragic event, yet this story is about so much more more.. I couldn’t put this one done until I finished it and it was well worth the night of sleep I lost..
This books tells about a parents worst nightmare. There is a music festival going on in Hsterville, Georgia. Rachel and George can hear it in their house. On the final night, a storm muffling the sound of the blaring music. Rachel puts her baby Emily to bed and goes to bed falling into such a deep sleep that she doesn’t hear the kitchen door open. A young girl/lady Vicki whose baby was stillborn and she never got over it and she kidnap’s Emily and calls her Lara [the name that was given to her stillborn daughter]. Vicki’s boyfriend Russel try’s to tell Vicki that the baby she took was not her baby and she had to give her back but, Vicki had her mind set on the baby being Lara. One day Vicki locates her sister Angela [who she hasn’t seen or talked to in 3 years] and asks her to please come and get her and the baby, telling Angela that Russel was abusive and Angela picked her and the baby up. Well Vicki has a heart attack and passes away leaving Angela and Kenny [Angela’s husband] to raise Lara. Lara gets accepted to a college in Florida. On the way to Daytona to meet up with Kenny, Angela’s car breaks down and they end up renting a couple of rooms at a place which is owned by the Dixon’s. The Dixon’s have 2 teenage kids [twins a boy and a girl]. Then the girl noticed something on Lara and talks to her mom about it. What does Hope see? Do the Dixon’s ever find Emily? What happens with Lara, Angela and Kenny. To find the answers you truly need to read this book. Bette lee Crosby did an amazing job with this book!! I truly enjoyed this book very much!!
Thank you to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy for review.
What would do if you woke up one morning and your baby daughter was missing from her crib? That was the horror that awaited Rachel Dixon and her husband George. The story begins in August 1971. There is a music festival outside of small Hesterville, Georgia reminiscent of the Woodstock festival. Leaving the festival, a young girl enters the Dixon’s darkened home in search of food. Instead, she sees baby bottles drying on the counter and filled ones in the refrigerator. She immediately searches for the nursery. The bottles brought back memories of her stillborn daughter Lara. When she sees Emily (Emmy), her grief convinces her mind that little Emily is Lara. The book continues from there.
There were several times during reading this book that I thought I knew where the author was taking the story, but I was wrong. She has skillfully woven together the stories of two families. Rachel and George, never giving up hope that they would find Emmy, and Angela and Kenny, raising her sister Vicki’s daughter. The oddest twists of fate bring the two families together. During the book, you meet several notable characters. Mama Dixon and her good friend Sadie, Russ Murphy aka “Murph”, and Vicki Robart.
If you have never read one of Bette Lee Crosby’s books, you are in for a treat.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Linda’s Book Obsession Reviews “Emily, Gone” by Bette Lee Crosby, Lake Union Publishing, April 30,2019
WOW!! Kudos to Bette Lee Crosby, Author of “Emily, Gone” for writing such an amazing, intense, intriguing, captivating, entertaining, dramatic and enthralling novel. This is a novel that tugged at my heartstrings. There are layers and coincidences, twists and turns, and unpredictable events in this novel. The Genres for this story are Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Mystery and Suspense. The author describes her colorful and dramatic cast of characters as complex and complicated. The time-line of the story starts in 1971 and goes to the past and future when it pertains to the characters and events in the story. The story originally takes place in Hesterville Georgia.
In 1971 in Hesterville, Georgia , which is a very small town, a music festival arrives with thousands of people. Bette Lee Crosby describes vividly, the sounds, sights, smells, and atmosphere. This takes me back to the seventies, and I can hear the loud music. Something happens one night during the music festival that changes the Dixon family life and the other residents in Hesterville Georgia. It is every parent’s nightmare. When Rachel Dixon wakes up in the morning, her baby girl Emily is gone.
This is such a compelling and intense book that I couldn’t put it down. I read this in one sitting. I can easily see this being made into a screenplay and movie. I love the way the author describes the importance of family, friends, community, love and hope. I loved and cried at the ending. I do hope that I read more about the characters. I would highly recommend this novel for readers who enjoy a thought-provoking and suspenseful story.
My review of Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby
What a beautiful story of the power of redemption and love, especially a mother’s love. Bette wrote a story I was able to relate to as a mother myself. I could feel the pain, the sorrow, and the gut wrenching knowledge of Rachel’s baby being kidnapped. There’s so much strife that one goes through during their healing process, affecting all touched by the tragedy in so many different ways. To be able to experience such loss, as if it was happening to you, is truly one of the greatest gifts an author can give us and Bette has done just that. I highly recommend Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby, as well as any books Bette writes.
In August 1971 a music festival came to a small town in Georgia and changed the lives of a family in town. A couple went to bed exhausted from the blaring sounds of the festival and when they awoke they discovered that their baby girl had been stolen from her crib. And so began a nightmare for the family. Rachel and George Dixon, along with George’s mother, Helen, navigate the sorrow of a missing child taken from them under awful circumstances.
This book is a story of sadness and despair, recovery and redemption and hope. It is the story of a woman who slowly rejoins the world with the help of others and her hope that one day she will be reunited with her daughter.
I loved this story and I loved the way the author wrote with raw emotion, and showed the power of forgiveness in helping to heal.
I can’t wait to read more from this author.
#EmilyGone #BetteLeeCrosby
I had heard such great things about this book and wanted to read for a while. It is better than all the wonderful admiration I had heard. The story is heartbreaking at times, but I think it is most about living with hope and to be willing to forgive, to unburden yourself and others of intense feelings that could be carried forever.
I have set a goal to read all of Bette Lee Crosby’s books and this is definitely a gem in her collection.
From the moment you start reading this Amazing emotional story ,your heart will go through many emotions Anger, Hope, Empathy, understanding overall the feeling of overwhelming love pouring from each character. Great story that will stay with you long after you have read it .
A music festival comes to a small town in Georgia and the Dixon family is less than thrilled. This festival is going to be in a field down down from their house. They have a small baby in the house and know the weekend is going to be long with cruising up and down their road, as well as the music and other activities that may come with a music festival setting up for a weekend.
It is Sunday night, they’ve barley gotten through the non-stop noise of the weekend and Rachel and her husband tuck the baby in and fall into a deep sleep themselves, as they’ve not had a night’s sleep since Thursday. They wake up the next morning to every parent’s worse nightmare. Their baby, Emily has been taken from the safety of her crib within the last 10 hours. How is this possible? How could they have not heard anything? Why, who would do this?
Vicki and Murph are on their way home after having spent the whole weekend parting at the music festival. Murph had stopped earlier at a house, so Vicki could see about getting some food she was hungry and couldn’t wait until they got to a town that had open restaurants or stores. She had come back quite quickly, and told him to get out of there, she thinks they saw her. He peels away from the road, pedal to the metal not asking her what she was able to find.
Rachel spirals into depression with each day that passes with no news or clues to who took their baby daughter. She doesn’t know how she will ever get past this, and no matter what anyone says or does, it won’t fix what happened. Not until she is found. George struggles with keeping them going, and carrying his own burden on himself, so not to add anymore onto Rachel. But Rachel never loses hope, and with time she does start to live again.
Vicki finally gets a hold of the sister she gave up on years ago, and asks for help. She has a daughter, no where to go and is afraid of her boyfriend. Is there anything she can do to help? Angela and her husband Kenny take Vicki and little Lara in, no questions asked. They’ve been trying themselves to have a child and so far have not yet gotten pregnant. They are more than happy to have them, and soon the four of them settle in together, and with a routine. Angela helps raise and loves Lara as a second mother to her. She cares for her, as if she were her own child.
Rachel and George have been blessed, with two more children, twins! They do not replace Emily or take the heartache away but Rachel and George are happy. Life is going well, the kids are growing up so fast and they have really made a good life for themselves and the kids. Rachel is back to helping in the community with different fundraisers and committees. One day she is asked to take on a guest in one of their spare rooms, as the lady who runs the local bead and breakfast overbooked, but cannot turn this quest away. She is a regular. Can Rachel do this one favor?
She finds that she enjoys having these guests, and does start renting out the extra rooms here and there. She enjoys the morning coffee talks and getting to know these strangers, and the lives they have lived. One day, a lady and her teenage daughter needs a place to stay, their vehicle broke down right outside of town and there really is no other place to currently go.
Rachel’s heart skips a beat, could it be? NO! A kidnapper would not be dumb enough to bring the child back to the town they took her from. Rachel knows she has seen hundreds of blonde girls and right away jumped to thinking it could be Emily. George always told her, she would know it in her heart when she saw her again, that a mother never forgets their child. Rachel can’t shake off this feeling, and decides she needs to prove a little about this girls background.
George isn’t too convinced and is afraid Rachel is getting her hopes up, to be dashed again. He doesn’t want her to go back to how she was when Emily was first taken. But he knows she needs to find the truth. What would be the odds of this girl really being Emily? There is no way, they said they are from Kentucky.
This story grips you from the first page, and doesn’t let you go until the very end. I loved the mystery, but yet heartfelt story that is weaved together. How lives can be drastically changed in a matter of seconds, and how decisions are easily made that will forever affect lives, lives you may not even know or realize.
Thank you to the author, Bette Lee Crosby for the novel! I loved it, and will be reading more of your books. I am grateful for you reaching out to me, I have found a new author and new books that I know will not disappoint. I read this book in one day!
EMILY, GONE
By Bette Lee Crosby
The promise of what I thought this book would deliver was much bigger than I ever could have imagined. Many may categorize her as a “Southern Fiction” writer but after reading my first book by Bette Lee Crosby, I can firsthandedly say she is a writer for all genres. No matter what you like, there is something in this book for you. It is not just another book, but something you get lost in and not want to let go. I can say this as someone that doesn’t just close myself off by saying I like only one genre. I’m into YA, Fantasy, Sci-Fi just as much as the next fan but I love romance, Christian fiction, woman’s fiction, historical, etc. as well. And with Mrs. Crosby’s strong character development and in depth background on each one, you can’t help but become vested in the storylines as they develop.
Emily, Gone is a masterful storytelling that anyone can relate to that has somebody or something they love. Now imagine that being stolen from you, the heartbreak, the loss, the many emotions that will continue to haunt you and remind of what’s now missing.
There’s also someone having the pain that you just can’t understand why they think the way they do or what kind of pain it would take to drive them to do something you would never consider in your wildest dreams.
A mother’s longing of not knowing what happened to what you lost. The desire to put to rest the daily reminders that cause the pain in your heart to surface constantly.
The story of a man that stood by your side, wanted to spend his life with you but you shock him and betray him in every way possible.
You will understand that no matter what side of the fence you’re on, no matter if you’re the birth mother or an adoptive mother that the love remains unchanged. A mother and father know no boundaries based on DNA.
It’s told in various viewpoints by chapter and I love that the chapters are intense but don’t lead on too long before getting back to what else is happening in the other stories. It’s fast paced and hard to put down. I can confidently say I have found my other favorite Author that I commit to reading every book of hers. You just know when something is a good thing and I found that in the writing of Bette Lee Crosby.
Bette Lee Crosby once again delivers a can’t-put-it-down, heart-tugging novel. In Emily Gone, Ms. Crosby offers a cast of beautifully drawn characters caught up in a family’s worst nightmare: the kidnapping of their child. Crafted with edge-of-the-seat pacing, Emily Gone is an emotional roller coaster of despair and hope, heartbreak and redemption. It’s a five-star read that does not disappoint.
Being a mother is a special gift and at the center of this captivating story is a look into the heart of a mother. What happens when a mother awakens to her worst nightmare? How does she cope with her grief?Does a mothers love change when her children are adults? Bette Lee Crosby examines all these questions and more as she tells this story from the perspectives from multiple characters. I highly recommend this book, but be prepared with tissues!
A captivating and emotional page turner that encompasses the kidnapping loss of a baby. Very well written with strong characters, presenting a dilemma that pulls the heartstrings. I loved this story!
In Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby, raw sorrow, hope for a future, and forgiveness are intertwined to really grab your attention and emotions. Rachel and George lost their daughter to horrible circumstances and the reader is taken along with them in their grief. The support and healing Rachel gets through her renewed relationship with her mother-in-law was touching. I felt connected to these characters as well as with Lara and her parents and was grateful for how Bette Lee chose to resolve the story. This was a heartfelt read and I would definitely recommend this book.
This book was written about a baby that was kidnapped by a woman and raised by her unsuspecting sister. The beginning of the book was written fairly realistically but somewhere the author seemed to give up on the story and spoon feed you a story that was really far fetched. I always finish a book once I am started, never giving up but this is one book I wish I had.
Excellent book!
I have a new favorite book! This one held my interest, so much so that when I had to put it down because of work, life and sleep, it angered me! I needed to know if it would turn out happy or break my heart! Every woman who has ever loved a child should read this book! At first it will devastate you, but keep reading! It’s a story that will go straight to your soul! So much love for the talent of Bette Lee Crosby!