The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

She is a very likeable character and narrator and I read that many people were confused about the target audience. I didn’t mean to read through it in one sitting but Pia and her story captivated me.

I found The Vanishing of Katharina Linden to be an engrossing read. Here is a picture of Bad Münstereifel and the surrounding forest: Bad Münstereifel is a small town with cobbled streets and timbered houses, close to the Eifel forest and is exactly what I always pictured when reading Grimm’s fairy tales (I grew up near the Eifel and we often went there to explore, though I think it was stressful for our parents, it is very easy to get lost). The atmosphere she invokes is really fantastic, especially as we look at things from the perspective of a ten-year old girl. But Grant embellishes her story by adding fairy tale and horror elements in the tradition of the Grimms as well as local folklore. Pia’s life is also unsettled by her parent’s marital problems, as her English expat mother wants to move the family to England.Īt the center of the story is thus the tragic but sadly not uncommon phenomenon of young girls disappearing. Herr Schiller is a genial older man who welcomes both children into his home and tells them local folk tales (most of which are apparently real stories of the area). Due to her grandmother’s unfortunate accident with an Adventskranz (advent wreath), Pia becomes a social outcast and has to make do with the friendship of StinkStefan (possibly the only one in school more unpopular than she is) and Herr Schiller. Our young narrator is Pia, known as the girl whose grandmother exploded. But then Katharina Linden disappears and suddenly the townspeople have to face the fact that these things happen even in their midst and Bad Münstereifel turns into one more place where parents are afraid to let their children roam outside. In Bad Münstereifel, a small town in Germany, everyone knows everyone and their business.

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant