Book review: Stolen by Lesley Pearse

My edition: Paperback, published in 2010 by Penguin books, 469 pages.

Description:A beautiful young woman is discovered half-drowned on a Sussex beach... Where has she come from? Why can't she remember who she is - or what happened?

She's wearing an old-fashioned dress and her hair has been hacked off. She's obviously been bound by the wrists and ankles. But without knowing her own name or who did this to her, she can't begin to piece together who she is and what led her to this unfamiliar place.

The police are baffled, but when the doctors examine her they make a shocking discovery: she has recently given birth. Who on earth is she? And where is her baby?

Stolen is a riveting, nail-biting story of a young woman desperately trying to recover her past and make sense of the woman she used to be.

Rating:



Stolen was my first impression of Lesley Pearse's work and what a roller coaster of a novel to start off this new reading relationship.

David is walking on a beach in Sussex when he discovers the body of a young woman who has washed ashore. The police soon realise that not only has Lotte lost her memory she also recently gave birth. This means they need to investigate which events led to Lotte being found barely alive on the beach as well as organise a search for the missing baby in case there is no one taking care of it at the present time.

After running a picture of the girl in the papers they are contacted by her friend Dale who starts of the chain of events that lead to Lotte uncovering the missing parts of her memory, though most of it would've been best left forgotten as Lotte's past is filled with disturbing experiences. With each horrifying event revealed I couldn't turn the page quick enough to get to the next part of the story. Pearse’s writing is incredibly engaging and despite the amount of characters surrounding Lotte and her mystery it was easy to connect to each one of them as they were all given a distinguished voice and role within the book.

Highly dramatised and gripping Stolen is brutally realistic and sometimes hard to read which, as peculiar as it may sound, only added to its appeal. It is an exceptionally intriguing novel, which has certainly made me want to read more novels by its author Lesley Pearse.


Many thanks to Lovereading for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review!