The Girl in the Red Coat

The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer

The anguish and heartbreak of a mother and daughter torn apart is exquisitely told in this story brimming with emotion and pain.

Single mom Beth Wakeford can't shake the feeling that someday her eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, will disappear. Irrational, perhaps ,but since her husband, Paul, left her for another woman, she's constantly fearful of losing another loved one. Carmel has always been a little "different",  a dreamy, spiritual sort of child that her teachers describe as "being on another planet". She loves her mother, but the hovering and over-protectiveness are hard for even a child to bear.

 On a foggy, dismal Saturday morning Beth's premonition comes true. She and Carmel visit a delightful outdoor festival.  The many tents are filled with puppeteers and storytellers dressed in glittering costumes. Try as she might, Beth can't seem to hold on to her daughter's slippery hand. Carmel finds a hiding place, seizing the moment to be alone, not realizing her little game opens the door for a stranger to abduct her. Minutes turn into hours and still no sign of the little girl in her signature red coat. Panic becomes hysteria and a mother's worst fears soon become reality.

Hours turn into days as Beth relentlessly searches for her daughter. Religious zealots claim Carmel must have special "powers" and false sightings lead to crushing disappointment.  Beth  marks each and every day on the calendar that goes by, while Carmel loses all sense of time. Never fully understanding the complexity of the reasons behind her capture, Carmel begins a journey that will take her farther and farther away from a mother and father who cling to one another, never giving up hope that someday their daughter will return.

Clearly, Hamer has a  commanding vocabulary and expressive style of writing.  She convincingly conveys the invisible thread that connects mother and daughter, even though they are physically apart. Although the minor characters are not always fully developed, the author's deep insight into the mother daughter relationship makes up for any shortcomings.

As the plot unravels piece by piece, readers will undoubtedly hope for a happy ending where mother and child find their way into each other's arms again.