The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant

She is not found and the people of the village start suspecting each other. The whole village is assembled to watch a parade and noone sees a thing as Katherina disappears. A young girl, Katherina Linden, goes missing on the night of a local holiday celebration. 'Set in a small village in Germany, the story takes place in 1998. Marvelously morbid, stunningly suspenseful, and exceptionally winning, The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is a new coming-of-age classic, and the most accomplished fiction debut in years. Then another girl disappears, and Pia is plunged into a new and unnerving place, one far away from fairy tales-and perilously close to adulthood. Their investigation is inspired by the instructive-and cautionary-local legends told to them by their elderly friend Herr Schiller, tales such as that of Unshockable Hans, visited by witches in the form of cats, or of the knight whose son is doomed to hunt forever. Pia and Stefan suspect that Katharina has been spirited away by the supernatural. But, this being real life, she doesn’t return.

Then, like a character in a Grimm’s fairy tale, she disappears. Katharina was last seen on a float in a parade, dressed as Snow White. But then something else captures the community’s attention: the vanishing of Katharina Linden. The only one who still wants to be her friend is StinkStefan, the most unpopular child in school. But tell that to the citizens of Pia’s little German hometown of Bad Münstereifel, or to the classmates who shun her. It isn’t ten-year-old Pia’s fault that her grandmother dies in a freak accident.

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden is an unforgettable debut-at once chilling and endearing, haunting and richly insightful-the story of one girl’s big heart and even bigger imagination, and of a world full of mystery, good, and evil. Not since The Elegance of the Hedgehog has a book arrived in America from Europe on such wings of critical praise and popularity.

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden by Helen Grant