I sort of went into this novel assuming I would be frustrated by an intriguing but ultimately aimless conceit. I'm so glad I was wrong. Indeed, it takes a lot of skill and focus to open a story with a missing girl and yet make the central question layers deeper than what happened to her, to instead write a story about what the missing girl signifies and how her significance develops over time in the social consciousness of a village. Fortunately, McGregor possesses such skill and the result is a narrative that is intellectually satisfying and constantly entertaining.

Each of the 13 chapters reveals more and more of the rural village and its inhabitants and the more we learn the more hopeless it seems for the reader, and yet we never really give up hope. Certain ordinary scenes take on the dramatic weight of significance they wouldn't ordinarily take on when a reader is searching for clues, for meaning. Time passes and the story endures and the case of the missing girl stays open because how could we close it? Each character wrestles with the obstacles time presents in their lives and they persist day after day, assuming something will make sense eventually.

This is an excellent novel as long as you know what you're getting into. The prose is crisp and efficient, the artistic conceit of the novel is sound, and the mood of loss pervades the story but doesn't overwhelm the reader.

I highly recommend this one.