Girl in the Red Coat

By: Kate Hamer

Narrated by: Antonia Beamish

Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children's festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, eight-year-old Carmel realizes that this man believes she has a special gift.... While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is - and who she might become.

©2016 Kate Hamer. Published by Melville House Publishing. Recorded by arrangement with Kate Hamer, care of ICM Partners Incorporated.Recording copyright 2015 WF Howes.Recording copyright 2015 WF Howes. (P)2016 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Moving, convincing, and completely compelling. I read through the night, desperate to know the little girl's fate." (Erin Kelly, author of The Poison Tree)

"Trust us: This book is unlike anything else." ( Stylist)

"2015's oh-so-chilling thriller breakout." ( Grazia)

"Narrator Antonia Beamish masterfully portrays the rising drama between Carmel and her mother. The listener is hanging on to every word from the moment Carmel is taken away by her grandfather... This story holds the listener in its thrall from start to finish. Beamish's performance is an example of the theatrical possibilities of audio titles." ( AudioFile)

Very Ambitious First Novel

The pain of a lost child is like no other. Losing a child to death is horrific and unbearable. Losing a child to a kidnapping and never knowing what happened.. well I can't even begin to imagine the nightmarish hell parents in that situation go through.

Beth and Carmel and mother and daughter, separated from their husband and father, respectively. Beth and Carmel's dad couldn't make their marriage work, so Beth was Carmel's primary care giver. One day on a mother/daughter outing to a soft of fair, Carmel seems to have wandered off, away from Beth. It was something that she did often, and each time it alarmed Beth. This time however, she didn't come back.

Weeks go buy, months, years.. Beth continually blames herself of course and looks for her daughter every day, in a fog of depression and devastation.

Every other chapter is Beth talking about her trials without her daughter, and Carmel tells the story of what happens to her with her new family- who are evangelicals who believe that Carmel has a natural healing powers and need her to make money at big church productions-- in America. Beth and Carmel and all of their family live in the UK.

The good- The portrayal of Beth as a grieving parent is believable and makes the reader extremely empathetic. The character development of Beth is very strong.

The bad- These is a lot of repetition in the book. It gets to the point where the listener is frustrated because not a lot happens, and there are several things in the story that don't quite make sense. The ending is simply not satiable either- I wanted more, I wanted lose ends tied up.

Regardless, great first novel. I hope there is a sequel so we find out what happens to the characters.

3 stars overall

Don’t leave us wondering

I did not like tithe ending, it would be nice to know about the daughter and their relationship 🌹

Good listen with a few issues

Any additional comments?

When I first got this book, I was afraid that there would be parts of the story I didn't want to hear, like really horrible, violent things happening to Carmel. Fortunately, none of that happened. The story kept me interested throughout, although there were many times that I felt that Carmel had ample opportunity and clues to figure out that Gramps lied to her. I also wasn't thrilled with the ending of the book, which made me feel very "wait, what? That's it?" Felt a little cheated. I mean, even the resolution with Gramps wasn't fully explained. But, as you can see, I gave the book 4 stars overall because I really did like listening to it and I liked the story, even though there were points of frustration.

Slow but engaging

The story was more interesting to me from the side of the mother. There seemed no point to the story with the grandfather. The people that were assembled in the life of the child as she grew seemed pointless. To me that part of the story dragged. I kept waiting for the point of it all to come into focus.

good story....but disappointing ending

Enjoyed the book right up to the ending. I felt that it could have been fleshed out more.

Need More

This was very hard to get into. Then once I did, the anticipation of what I thought might happen, and anger set in. It was hard to keep going but I needed to know what happened to her. To the author, you should have finished the book with one more chapter coming from Carmel. I didn't like the ending. It was too sudden.

Bit of a bummer

The end is definitely lacking and I wish I would have know her special gift would lead to a strong religious undertone. There was an awful lot of build up, then it just sort of fizzled out at the end.

great story

loved it...not what I expected. The story line kept you engaged. Carmel is a very interesting character

wonder-ful

Magical with rich dialog. excellent narration. memorable. looking forward to a re-listen sometime..very highly recimmended.

Binge Listened

Great story... a good mix of suspense and paranormal. I loved the first-person narrative from both main characters' POV. Excellent audiobook narrator.