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The Girl in the Red Coat
The Girl in the Red Coat
The Girl in the Red Coat
Audiobook11 hours

The Girl in the Red Coat

Written by Kate Hamer

Narrated by Antonia Beamish

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

She is the missing girl. But she doesn't know she's lost.    Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children's festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, 8-year-old Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift...   While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is - and who she might become.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 26, 2016
ISBN9781622319718

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Reviews for The Girl in the Red Coat

Rating: 3.6878308095238097 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

189 ratings26 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Every parents nightmare. One second Carmel was there clinging to her mother Beth's hand and the next she's vanished in thin air. The terror the ensues as Beth is gripped with guilt never giving up her search for Carmel. And to hear the words of the vanished girl til the end.I hate novels that play on a new mother's fears but clearly bevause of tgat I anxiously devoured this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was not the abducted child/grieving mother story I expected. Told in the alternating voices of the girl, Carmel, and her mother, Beth, the novel covers the five years after Carmel goes missing at a storytelling festival. Beth's side of the narrative is fairly standard for these types of books, but Carmel's story sets this apart. She has been abducted by an itinerant preacher who believes she is a healer. What was completely unexpected for me was that Carmel seems to actually have some unexplained ability to see auras (for want of a better word) and to occasionally heal the afflicted. I expected her "healing" to be a scam--that she had simply been abducted because she bore a striking resemblance to the preacher's (missng? dead?) daughter. Introducing the idea of real healing abilities could have been cheesy as all get-out, but Hamer handled it well and it wasn't jarring or woo-woo.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer is a really good book. It's not often that I start a review with such a simple observation, but as I tried to wrap my thoughts around the book I just read, that's what stuck in my head. I read it steady from start to finish, but not in a desperate kind of furor. It held my interest, I enjoyed it, it just wasn't an OMG kind of read. And that's okay. Not every book I read has to be the second coming...The gist of the story... Single mother, Beth, has always worried that she'd lose her daughter. Then one day it happens... When a moment's distraction at a crowded fair separates Beth and Carmel from each other, a man posing as Carmel's estranged Grandfather takes the opportunity to whisk her off with the words, "Carmel, it's your mother. She's had a terrible accident."And so begins the story of Eight-year-old Carmel's abduction, told in the alternating voices of Beth and Carmel, mother and daughter. Beth's story is the struggle to find Carmel and live through the process. Carmel's story is a bit more complicated... how she learns to grasp the lies she is told and keep true to herself. We also come to find out that Carmel's abduction wasn't some random kidnapping, but a more deliberate action because the man posing as Carmel's grandfather believes there is something very special about little Carmel... As life slowly moves forward for Beth and for Carmel, the ending of the book fulfills the need for some kind of closure.The plot was very well done. This is NOT your typical child kidnapping mystery! I really liked reading the two perspectives of the story, and Carmel in particular was interesting because you generally never get to "hear" what the victim is thinking along the way. But then again, Carmel doesn't quite think she's a victim, at least not because of being taken away by "Grandad".This is a story of loss, of moving on with your life after a loss and a story of the close ties of a mother and daughter. It's also the story of every parent's nightmare- their child being abducted. It's not a loud story, but one that is quietly powerful. Well developed characters and a good story make this definitely a good read. And as I said, I really liked the alternating voices of Beth and Carmel moving the story along. Would I recommend the book? Yes!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a good read, not earth shattering, but a good read. It is told from two view points: the mother who's struggling with the guilt of her daughters abduction and the young eight-year-old girl who was abducted. The emotions of both of these characters are really well written. My problem with the book is that you read for so long about their individual struggles that went on for five years and then in whirlwind chapter, Carmel is back with her mom. I enjoyed reading their story and I could find many people who I could recommend this book to.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have been given this book to read as part of a magaread via Dudley libraries and the book group I attend for review that may contain minor spoilers. Carmel is eight years old snd lives with her mom Beth. One day at a festival Carmel is taken by a man who claims he is her grandfather. He tells Carmel her mother has been in an accident and then later dies. Beth can't find Carmel and with all the help she can get she won't give up hope of finding het.This book I found compelling and I wanted to find out what was going to happen to both Beth and Carmel. I wouldn't say it was a page turner but there was enough to hold my interest. Had I have not been interested then I would have given up.The reason the grandfather took Carmel I found quite strange and couldn't at first make up my mind if Carmel could do what he thought. However it comes clear thst she can and I wasn't expecting that and at first thought it would ket thd book dow. It's not your uusual scenario so makes the book quite different and quirky.This book did make me think about how it must be awful to lose a child and have no closure. One case that did come to mind for me was that of Madelaine McCann and how she wa taken and has never been found. As a mother I found sone elements of the book quite touching.This book has bedn compared to Room, The Snow Child and Light Between Oceans which I have read all three. I personally can't see the connections and wouldn't have recommended this book if you have liked the other threeOverall for me I didn't love the book but it was a satisfactory read with an unusual content and quite a different type of read..
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer was a page-turner as a little girl is spirited away from a children’s festival by a man who tells her he is her grandfather and that her mother has been in an accident. In reality he has the idea that this particular little girl is gifted and that he can use her gift for healing to make money. The lie is kept up with first telling her that her mother is in intensive care and then informing her that her mother died. As her parents are divorced, he explains that her father would prefer her to stay with her grandfather. Meanwhile both the mother and father are going through hell, she blames herself, feeling that she must have done something wrong little knowing that she and her daughter were deliberately targeted and stalked.The story unfolds through the words of Beth, the mother and of Carmel, the missing child. Beth’s life has come to a complete stop and it takes years before she can move ahead in any way. The thought of her missing child is never far from her mind. Meanwhile Carmel has been fed so many lies that she doesn’t really know what is true anymore. She and her “Gramps” spend their time roaming in an RV and trying to make money from Carmel’s healing touch.Through no fault of the author, I really didn’t like this book much. I just don’t enjoy books where children are put in jeopardy and I wanted Carmel to be rescued and reunited with her family. I spent most of the book feeling frustrated that someone wasn’t figuring out what happened but again I do know that this type of thing can happen in real life and sometimes the fate of the child is never discovered. The Girl in the Red Coat is well written but left me feeling emotional drained. I did finish the book as I wanted to know what the final outcome was going to be, but I think I really should have simply let this one go.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A lost child story which obeys the rules of all lost child stories.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A bit of magic realism pops up in the middle of the mystery adding to the story and the suspense. Not at all what was expected, but surprising and clever.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Amazing and disturbing and I didn't want it to end. Wow!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This tells the story of Beth and Carmel, a single mother and her 8 year old daughter. During an outing at a festival, Carmel is kidnapped by a strange man during a thick fog.

    First I need to thank my sister Kandi for getting this for me. I originally wasn't a fan of it while reading it. It seemed like It was gonna for sure be a 3 or even 2 star review. But I was clearly wrong. In fact, some of criticisms ending up actually being something that I really enjoyed.

    This book has two perspectives. Beth's and Carmel's. I thought it was kind of hard to get into because of this, but now I'm thinking it works. The story is told in a way that makes you understand Carmel and her issues as well as the nightmare it is to go through something as bad as a kidnapping. I think this is a uniquely written story with characters you can care about. I found myself smiling and my heart beating fast while reading this book. My only note would be the ending. No spoilers, but there could have been more to that last page. Just sayin'.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I'm sitting at about 2.5 on this one. It kept my interest---and I wanted to finish it....it just fell a bit flat. The entire book had a circus feel of all these strange events that you didn't see coming and had no idea what to expect next. A story I found completely unique in the items woven together. Then - quickly - it wrapped up and was over. I have so many things in my head that feel unanswered. It was...strange. I felt like too much attention was given to certain aspects and not enough on others. In the end it was just okay for me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The reason I say that this is not a thriller is because this story deals with the raw emotions experienced by every individual that is exposed to this tragic event. Told in alternating voices of Beth and Carmel, the story takes the reader through the pain and hope that a mother lives with when her child is abducted as well as the confusion and helplessness a child feels when she has nowhere else to go. It is an emotional rollercoaster and it will affect you, because it certainly affected me. The strength of this novel is not just in the plot and the nail-biting question of "will Carmel be found?"; the strength of this novel comes from the depth of the characters and their struggle throughout their journey. I love this novel and I can't stop thinking about it because it has just resonated so deeply with me. Anyone looking for a novel that explores the emotions behind a thriller, read this one.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Probably 3.5 (maybe a 4...)
    Took me a bit to get into this - a lot going on, so hard to dedicate time to focus. Sad, right?
    This book has a style maybe like the Time Traveller's Wife - the ping-ponging back and forth between characters. In ways the main characters (Carmel & her Mum, for me, there are others) are not well-defined, but very likeable. Change occurs, growth. And the author handles it well.
    I was considering recommending this for our Community Onr Read, but I think the religion (not very spoiler-y) might be a sticking point. I will recommend it as an enjoyable read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    When a child goes missing, they say those first few hours are all-important. But what happens when the hours are done and the mother is trapped between grieving her loss and hating herself for the blame? Moving on might be hard, even with the help of family and friends. Without help, turning away help, and retreating from help, where will mother Beth end up? Meanwhile, where will daughter Carmel go, as her life grows gradually scarier and stranger?The Girl in the Red Coat tells the story of every parent’s nightmare, through the convincing voices of parent and child. Being lost is all too easy and all too believable. But both characters are lost in this tale, both suffering loss, and both in search of self.With haunting images, all too plausibly strange situations, unsettling touches of the paranormal, and compelling characters of just enough depth to be both good and bad, The Girl in the Red Coat is an enthralling read and truly hard to put down.Disclosure: I bought it to read on a plane and, like I said, couldn’t put it down.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the story of Carmel an 8 year old English girl who is stolen from her Mother Beth in at a village fair.Carmel is taken to America by an old man who insists he is her Grandad he tells her that her Mum is dead and that her Dad doesn't want her to live with him.They travel round preaching and curing people Grandad thinks Carmel has a special talent to cure people.She also lives with a lady called Dorothy and 2 twins called Melody and Silver but they manage to ran away back to Mexico.Five years go by and finally Carmel is found and returned to England to be back with her Mum Beth, who in the 5 years she was gone has moved on but always had hope Carmel would be found has become a nurse in a local hospital
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a really compelling read, although I don't know that I would call it a mystery. We know right away what has happened. Maybe not the details of why or exactly how, but that is what made this such a page turner. The writing was also immersive. Both main characters were so painfully exposed through their thoughts that the depth of emotion was a bit hard to read at times.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was astonishingly, breathtakingly good. The story of a missing child and the mother left frantically searching kept me reading long into the night. The voice of Carmel is written with such skill - combining the eccentricity all children have with a special otherness all of her own - not to mention subtly conveying the change that occurs over time. I admired the way she was able to harness the abstract and pin it down on the page. You wouldn't need to be a parent to sympathise with Beth, the mother in the story, whose story is quite heartrending. The only problem with this book is that it demands to be read and in the rush to reach the conclusion it's easy to miss some of the great writing. It would make a great re-read and a great film.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This debut novel held my interest throughout. It was fast-paced with alternating first-person points-of-view, Beth and Carmel. Beth is the mother who loses her eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, at a crowded festival. Carmel suddenly disappears and Beth's worst nightmare begins.Any parent who has ever lost a child for any length of time can relate to this story and that includes me. My toddler daughter was lost in a large department nearly 50 years ago. I thought she was with my husband and he thought she was with me. When we met at a specific time, neither of us had her and I cannot put into words the panic we experienced. I immediately started searching for her while my husband headed for the security office. Suddenly we saw her sitting on the shoulders of a security officer as he walked through the store making sure she could be seen. We were overcome with relief.At the top of Beth's chapters, it's indicated how long Carmel has been gone. It's emotional to read how the loss affects mother and child. The loneliness for each other is heart-wrenching. Since I don't want to include spoilers, I will say only that Carmel's life takes an interesting turn, but she is a victim of lies.Kate Hamer is a very talented author who expertly developed her characters and locations. I definitely would like to read more of her work.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An outing to a storytelling festival and a moment of distraction for Beth result in a parent’s worst nightmare – someone claiming to be her estranged father has spirited away her eight-year-old daughter Carmel, the titular girl in the red coat. The Girl in the Red Coat by author Kate Hamer is told in alternating voices between Beth and Carmel. Beth is consumed by grief but refuses to believe that her daughter is not alive or that she may never be found while Carmel fights to retain her own identity even as her ‘grandfather’ attempts to make her do his bidding. This is, on the surface, a thriller albeit a rather slower-paced, thoughtful one but it is so much more than that. It is a beautifully written and compelling tale about loss and grief, hope and survival and, in the end, redemption. My one quibble with the book was the ending – it came much too quickly and without much warning. Still, I enjoyed it a lot. With such an emotional plot, this could easily have devolved into a simple tearjerker meant to exploit our emotions but Hamer manages to walk that thin line between tragedy and melodrama and does it exceedingly well – even more amazing then that this is her debut novel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This is the story of a young girl, 8-year-old Carmel, who is kidnapped from her mother Beth, and it's told from the perspectives of both. The prose was at times beautiful, at other times kind of odd. I found the first part of the book to be pretty engrossing, the middle was plodding, and the ending came about much too quickly. After so much detail about Carmel's life with her kidnapper, the final denouement is handled in a rather perfunctory manner. The story really demands that a sequel be written. Still, nice debut effort by author Kate Hamer.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I'm SO sorry this is her first novel!!!! I was looking forward to finding more books by this author but then noticed that this is her first---well cone!!! Going back and forth between the mother and daughter was beautifully done---especially listening to it in CD form. I only wished that there was more about the jump right at the end---I want more ---perhaps another book to fill in as well as "and THEN what?"
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Haunting book about child abduction - every parent's worst nightmare. I thought the alternating story perspectives worked well. While the mother's ongoing situation seemed very believable, it seemed to me that the daughter's situation seemed unreal at some times. I could only assume that it was written during a time period when internet and phone service were not readily available. Regardless, it was a good read but I felt the ending was tied up too quickly.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    AUTHOR Hamer, KateTITLE: The Girl in the Red CoatDATE READ 05/10/16RATING 4/BGENRE/ PUB DATE/PUBLISHER / # OF PAGES Suspense/2015 / Faber & Faber / 375 pgsSERIES/STAND-ALONE: Stand-AloneCHARACTERS Carmel 8 yr old daughter; Beth/single mother to Carmel TIME/PLACE: Present UK FIRST LINES I dream about Carmel often. In my dreams she is always walking backwards.COMMENTS: Received this book in a swap & had never heard of it before. I expected a bit more suspense/mystery … it was really more about the characters and how they dealt w/ the situation not really any mystery involved. What made the book engaging is the way it was told. Each chapter alternates between the mother, Beth and the daughter, Carmel. Beth is a single mother caring for her 8-yr-old daughter. Carmel is a bit of a daydreamer & seems to wander off at times … even the teachers have noticed this tendency. So there have been a few times when Carmel does stray from her mother's sight. This causes Beth great anxiety but they always seem to find each other … until the storytelling festival. This is a crowded outdoor festival and Beth loses sight of Carmel for what seems an instant and she is nowhere to be found. The book proceeds w/ Beth never losing hope and continuously looking for her daughter. For awhile she is unable to do much beyond this but eventually trains to be a nurse. During this period she forms a beneficial friendship w/ her ex-husband and his new wife. For the next 5 or so years or so we also hear from Carmel who believes her mother is deceased and that her father no longer wants her because this is what she has been told by her abducter -- her "grandfather". She lives a strange and itinerant life w/ him. Carmel is believed to have healing hands and her preacher-grandfather uses her in their tent revivals. Reading their perspectives was interesting but I wanted an addendum or more of an ending … I wanted to see how they adjusted. The title is based on the fact that Carmel loves red and wears a red coat.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "The Girl in the Red Coat" is one of those stories that will stay with you for a long time. Although slightly disturbing, you are unable to put it down. Kudos to Kate Hamer for writing an interesting tale of one of a mother's greatest fears - childhood abduction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Girl in the Red Coat is Kate Hamer's debut novel. It's garnered lots of attention as a finalist for both the Costa Book Award for First Novel and the Dagger Award. And this is what I love about debuts - there's no history, no expectations of what the story is going to be, no familiarity with the author's style or storytelling - it's a story just waiting for the reader to discover it.Eight year old Carmel is a dreamer, often getting lost - both physically and mentally. Her single mother, Beth, struggles to keep Carmel with her in public places as the girl likes to hide. And then one day, Carmel hides too well. Her mother cannot find her.......but an older gentleman does. He says he's her grandfather and that her mother has been hurt - Carmel must come with him.....and she does. (The foreshadowing and foreboding that leads up to this is wonderful.)The Girl in the Red Coat is told in alternating viewpoints/chapters - between Beth and Carmel. Beth's chapters are marked in days - and then years as the search for Carmel continues to turn up nothing. But as readers we know where Carmel is and what has happened to her.Now, those looking for an intense suspense/mystery novel won't find it here. (Indeed, I could not slot this book into any genre.) Instead, Hamer deftly and intimately explores the aftermath of such a loss/crime/event from two very differing viewpoints. How does life go on? For both. Carmel's chapters were hard to read as they are from a child with no immediate clear picture of the deception that has occurred. But as a mother, I found Beth's just as wrenching as she tries to cope.Hamer throws in a bit of a unexpected bit with Carmel. Her 'getting lost' has a reason - and her 'grandfather' believes it has a purpose as well. I'm not quite sure how I felt about this part of the plot, but as I said at the beginning, I do like being surprised as I read. And I couldn't stop reading - I wanted to know what happened and if the two would ever be reunited. Are they? You'll have to read the book to find out. The Girl in the Red Coat was a great debut. I'll be watching for Hamer's next novel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “No one tells you how it will be when you have a child.No one tells you it’s goingto be worry, worry, worry, worry, worry. World without end. How they hold your fate, your survival in their hands,whereas before you were free, free and didn’t know it. How if anything happens to them you will also be destroyed and you carry that knowledge with you, constantly.” Those words, from the voice of Beth, the single mother of 8-year old Carmel, rang so true to me that I almost cried out, “YES.” Kate Hamer has crafted a compelling thriller by putting the reader into the heads of a mother and daughter who become separated at a book fair: Carmel has a bad habit of hiding from her overprotective mother, but this time she finds herself confronted by a strange old man who claims to be her grandfather, and who tells her her mother has had a terrible accident and she must come with him. Told in alternating chapters from Beth’s point of view, and then Carmel’s, we see both the guilt-ridden mother’s desperation and the girl’s bravery as she must learn over weeks and months how to survive with a strange new family, dominated by an itinerant preacher who believes God sent him to find Carmel, that she has been endowed with special powers. Like Emma Donoghue’s Room, this is a novel whose pages almost turn themselves as you read, as you get completely caught up in a mother’s quest to find not just Carmel but herself, and a little girl’s perilous odyssey through uncertainty and hope. Helicopter parents, prepare to confront your ultimate nightmare.