As the mother of a daughter with a learning disability, some of Margaret’s experiences cut me to the bone. When reading, the locations mentioned were very vivid to me – largely in part to the fact that just last week I binge-watched the second season of “Whitstable Pearl” on Netflix.

My favorite quote in the book is: “Don’t judge yourself the way others judged you in the past.” It can apply to many of us in many situations. This comes from Wayne, who is Margaret's support worker. He lives up to his role.

LoveReading Says

Margaret's current story is interspersed with the story of her life in St. Mary's, a residential home for the intellectually challenged and mentally disturbed. There is a twist towards the end of the book, it did not come as a surprise to me. I was pretty sure I had figured it out along the way. But that did not detract from the story at all. Throughout, I only wanted the best for Margaret. But, then, I found out that I had not figured it out. What a lovely surprise! The real twist was way better than what I had in mind. The topic is a difficult one, about how people try and make their way in the world when they are dismissed and forgotten about.

I honestly found it so hard to hear what she had endured as a child in St Mary’s and I don’t think I can have hated a character more than Nurse Cunningham! The sad fact of the matter is that whilst this book is a work of fiction it is based on real stories and my heart breaks to think of what people with disabilities, physically or mentally, went through in the 1940s-1980s. As Margaret tells us her story I wanted someone to help her and give her the life she deserved. Whether it was Joan, Eva or kind Sandra, the people she trusted kept abandoning her and each time my heart broke a little more for her. There is a twist towards the end of the book, it did not come as a surprise to me. I was pretty sure I had figured it out along the way. But that did not detract from the story at all. Throughout, I only wanted the best for Margaret. But, then, I found out that had not figured it out. What a lovely surprise! Much of the inspiration for Neil Alexander‘s debut novel, ‘ The Vanishing of Margaret Small‘, came directly from the voices of people with a learning disability, and the incredibly moving first person accounts of living in long stay institutions, which he heard while working for the UK charity Mencap. Neil, who has a Masters degree in English Literature from the University of Kent at Canterbury, began his career working in health journalism. Originally from Northern Ireland, he now lives in the seaside town of Whitstable in Kent. He currently teaches English part-time and is working on his second novel.

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Save Book Launch! Betteshanger Colliery, 'They didn't take it off the wind!' to your collection. Share Book Launch! Betteshanger Colliery, 'They didn't take it off the wind!' with your friends. Okay, call me gender-biased, but I am not a fan of men writing women; most of the times, they mess up female representation. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that this is written by a man! What a beautiful and sensitive portrayal of the female characters! There was no scene where I felt like the writing went stereotypical. So yeah, I admit, there are some good male writers in contemporary fiction. I hope some more of them come my way. ( Sorry for being so presumptive in my dismissal of male authors! It’s a case of ‘Multiple times bitten, perennially shy.’)