The Vanishing of Margaret Small

By: Neil Alexander

Narrated by: Annie Aldington, Rachel Atkins

An evocative, endearing, entertaining and thoroughly delicious character portrait and a terrific first novel' - Donal MacIntyre, TV presenter

'A tender, thought-provoking and totally gripping novel from a wonderful storyteller...deserves to be a huge hit!' - Matt Cain, author of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle

Meet Margaret Small: 75, plain spoken, Whitstable native and a Cilla Black super fan. Shortly after the death of her idol, Margaret begins receiving sums of money in the post, signed simply 'C'.

She is convinced it must be Cilla, but how can it be? To solve the mystery of her benefactor Margaret must go back in her memories almost 70 years, to the time when she was 'vanished' to a long-stay institution for children with learning disabilities.

An absorbing and page-turning mystery with a dual timeline, The Vanishing of Margaret Small takes listeners into a fascinating past, and introduces an unforgettable literary heroine.

Perfect for fans of Libby Page and Gail Honeyman.
©2022 Neil Alexander (P)2022 Bonnier Books UK

Critic reviews

"An evocative, endearing, entertaining and thoroughly delicious character portrait and a terrific first novel." (Donal MacIntyre, TV presenter)

"A tender, thought-provoking and totally gripping novel from a wonderful storyteller...deserves to be a huge hit!" (Matt Cain, author of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle)

Wonderful story, perfectly narrated.

This is one of those novels that evokes a myriad of feelings in the reader so listening to it was something of an emotional roller coaster ride. I very much appreciated the moments of levity which appeared often enough to relieve an often sad and anger inducing narrative.

The narrator was amazing, bringing to life a cast of wholly authentic characters across the different timelines.

An Unlikely Heroine

I quite liked this nice little book that should appeal to readers who (like me) enjoyed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman, or The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, or any of the books by Frederik Backman. The narration was excellent, and the protagonist endearing.

Put a twinkle in my heart

I somehow stumbled across this novel, and decided to give it a try. Well! What a surprisingly beautiful and gorgeous story! A wee bit emotional at the end. Please turn Margaret Small into a series!

It was pretty good

This book was well written and had an interesting premise, but got bogged down in the middle chapters. I did finish it, but I was losing interest by the end. The ending redeemed it somewhat, but I still can’t wholeheartedly recommend this book. Too drawn out for me.