The Daughter

February 16, 2015
British author Shemiltâs sensitive if sometimes painful first novel focuses on the disintegration of the Malcolm family of Bristol, England, in the wake of a tragedy: husband Ted, a neurosurgeon; wife Jenny, a family doctor and amateur painter; their 17-year-old twins, Ed and Theo; and their 15-year-old daughter, Naomi. Naomi lands the plum role of Maria in her schoolâs production of West Side Story, but after a performance she disappears without a trace. A year later, Jenny is living alone in Dorset, having discovered that everything she thought about her family was incomplete or wrong. Jenny is a strong and believable character, and the blinkers that keep her from seeing her husband and children clearly grow as insidiously as cataracts. The secrets hidden from Jenny are common ones, but her absorption in her work, her art, and the daily routines of family life keeps her from seeing the problems. Not all the characters are as well drawn as Jenny, and Naomi remains too much of a mystery, but Jennyâs journey is a memorable one. Agent: Eve White, Eve White Literary Agency (U.K.).