Thank you @scribe_uk for gifting me an advanced copy of Elly by Maike Wetzel to review! This literary thriller translated from German by Lyn Marven took me by surprise - it’s a very powerful little novel packed into just 137 pages.

.

Elly disappeared four years ago. Although her family searched and searched, no hint of her whereabouts was ever found. But now, four years later, Elly’s come back. The family are thrilled, they didn’t dare dream that one day they might be reunited with their youngest daughter. As Elly readjusts to life at home, however, her parents and sister begin to get the uneasy feeling that something isn’t quite right...

.

I raced through this one in an hour and a half and I’d recommend you set aside a chunk of time one Sunday afternoon and do the same! It highly benefits from a one-sit read, as Wetzel builds the tension in such a way that you can’t help but continue to flip the pages. I think her sparse style with a heavy reliance on short sentences translates brilliantly into English, with Lyn Marven recreating that starkness.

.

Although I enjoyed the whole book, the opening chapters are definitely the strongest. Wetzel portrays an unhealthy relationship between Elly’s sister and a young girl she’s hospitalised with, demonstrating how deeply she’s been affected by the loss of her little sister.

.

My one complaint is that I think I would have preferred an omniscient third person narrator, rather than switching between first person perspectives. I didn’t think the voices were particularly differentiated from one another, so an intimate third person would have worked just as well.

.

Overall, a satisfyingly dark little book about grief and loss, playing into a family’s worst fears.