The Temple House Vanishing
Twenty-five years ago, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl and her charismatic teacher disappeared without trace...
In an elite Catholic girls' boarding-school the pupils live under the repressive, watchful gaze of the nuns. Seeking to break from the cloistered atmosphere two of the students - Louisa and Victoria - quickly become infatuated with their young, bohemian art teacher, and act out passionately as a result. That is, until he and Louisa suddenly disappear.
Years later, a journalist uncovers the troubled past of the school and determines to resolve the mystery of the missing pair. The search for the truth will uncover a tragic, mercurial tale of suppressed desire and long-buried secrets. It will shatter lives and lay a lost soul to rest.
An experiment by an “Elite” catholic girl's school to offer scholarships to bright but poor students leads to Louisa taking up a place.
Probably typical of such and experiment, the scholarship girls are looked down on and not made to feel at all welcome by the other pupils or by the nuns.
Louisa is befriended by Victoria and almost becomes besotted by her and also by their charismatic art teacher, Mr Lavelle. I did find it quite strange in such a cloistered environment that he was allowed to teach them unsupervised.
One night Louisa and Mr Lavelle disappear and no trace of them is found.
Fast forward 25 years and a Journalist sets about writing some pieces about the disappearance and finally manages to interview Victoria and one of the other girls. The journalist just happens to have lived opposite Louisa's father's house and was once babysat by Louisa.
The book switches between the Journalist's narrative and that of Louisa. Sometimes I found it confusing with Louisa's narrative as to who was saying what to whom.
As the story unravels, it becomes obvious as to what has happened, but the epilogue is something else and is quite cleverly done.
A rather dark read especially as it is set in Autumn/Winter and it is by the sea and it is always cold. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable or felt I had any empathy with them.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC in return for an honest review.