Introduction: The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
I do not have children. But I suspect that every mother’s nightmare is that her child will go missing one day. That’s what The Girl in the Red Coat
by Kate Hamer is about. A child goes missing, and the reader sees what happens over the next five years. This book is the author’s debut novel.
by Kate Hamer is about. A child goes missing, and the reader sees what happens over the next five years. This book is the author’s debut novel.The beginning of the book sets the scene for what’s to come – the day when Carmel Summer Wakeford disappears without a trace – at least to her parents. You get a sense of the relationship between mother, daughter, and ex-husband. Mother and daughter live in Norfolk, England.
The Girl in the Red Coat
The Doll Funeral
And The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer is told through the eyes of grieving Beth, and her missing daughter, Carmel. You see what each does to deal with their separation. Although I enjoyed the book, the story leaves me with a lot of questions.
And I feel like I am forced to find a way to fill in the blanks. I know that an author is not supposed to underestimate the reader’s intelligence by explaining everything. But all the gaps were over the top. I know that the book is about loss and grief, and how to deal with it, but still, I feel like I was left hanging.
The Story: The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
Carmel is your typical eight-year-old, who is sometimes ashamed of how her mother looks and wishes that she could live with her friend Sara. Carmel thinks that her mother is too clingy when it comes to her. She wishes that her mother wouldn’t hold her hands all the time, when they are out and about.
But what’s a mother to do, when her daughter has gone missing once before while in the maze. Yes, she is found safely, but for that short time, Beth is frantic when she cannot find Carmel. The young girl suffers from fugue – a state or period of loss of awareness, so in the story, her mind often wanders.
On the day that Carmel goes missing, she is excited because her mother is taking her to the storytelling festival, and they are taking the train, and not the bus. She is having a grand time, but she starts to get mad because her mother insists on holding her hand. They make a deal that when they are at a booth, Beth will not hold Carmel’s hand. But Carmel keeps on getting even more upset and decides to go under the table in the booth. There are many people around, so it is very difficult for Beth to see her.
While under the table, it appears she has a fugue attack, and when her awareness returns, she is not sure how long she has been under the table. Carmel gets out from under the table and finds the place empty.
Her mother is nowhere around and she starts to panic. An older man approaches her, and he is someone that she had seen earlier. He identifies himself as her grandfather. It so happens that her mother is estranged from her parents. Who is this man, and how did he know that they were going to be at the storytelling festival?
This man, whom the reader later learns is called Dennis, tells Carmel that her mother has been in an accident. He urges her to go with him. I mentioned earlier that I do not have children, but wouldn’t an eight-year-old know not to go with strangers, even if the person says he is a relative. Carmel asks a lot of questions about her mother, and he gives her, in my mind, what are very stupid answers. But perhaps a distraught child would not see things my way. Dennis takes Carmel to an abandoned construction project.
Developers ran out of cash, so only one suite has been renovated. Carmel meets Dorothy, who is Dennis’ partner, and they put her in a room that hasn’t been used in a long time – a section that’s not renovated. Dorothy and Dennis argue a lot. Dennis abducts Carmel because he believes that she has special healing powers, and wants to use her as his ticket to financial freedom. Dennis tells Carmel that her mother died and her father doesn’t want her. That’s a lot for a child to deal with.
One minute they are in England. The next they are in the US. When Carmel awakes, she sees Melody and Silver, Dorothy’s twins. How did they get to the US, didn’t anyone at the airport question them? If Carmel wasn’t aware that they had left England, that suggests that she wasn’t conscious. Anyway, Carmel forms a special friendship with Melody, and eventually with Silver.
The family is transient – Dennis is constantly moving them from place to place. He takes Carmel to healing services, and sometimes she is able to heal the person and other times it doesn’t work. For instance, she cannot heal Dennis, who has an injured foot.
Whenever Carmel gets the opportunity, like when she uses the bathroom at a rest stop, she leaves a note on the wall with her name and where she is from. When Dorothy is reunited with her daughters, she treats Carmel differently, and is often very cross with her. She gets angrier when the money doesn’t flow in from healing, so she can get the condo she desires. Dennis wants to change Carmel’s name to Mercy. Melody tells her that Mercy used to be with them, then she disappeared. One day when Carmel wakes up, Dorothy and the twins are gone, and so are a lot of things. It appears that she has returned to Mexico, her home country. Dennis is angry because Dorothy has taken all the money.
It’s heartrending to read what Beth is going through, but she never gives up hope that one day she and her daughter will be united. One thing I loved about The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer is that despite her grief at the loss of her daughter, Beth decides to serve others. She goes to nursing school. Beth also makes peace with her ex-husband Nick, and they work together to find Carmel. Their relationship evolves to that of brother and sister.
Dennis is arrested at one of the healing gatherings because he and Pastor Munroe do not have the required permit. Now Carmel is alone. All through the five years that Carmel is missing, Beth doesn’t give up looking for her. Nick hires a private investigator to find his daughter. After Carmel is missing for five years, one day, Beth receives a call from Maria, her police liaison, telling her that they found Beth.
How did they find Beth? Was it the police officer, who arrested Dennis? Or was it as a result of the notes that Carmel left? Was it because of the private eye’s work? And what happened to Mercy? Did Dennis kill her? We also discover that Carmel’s great grandmother had powers that Carmel might have inherited. But that story is not developed, and appears to be tossed into the story.
Conclusion: The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer
Carmel and Beth are reunited, but the end of The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer is very disappointing – anticlimactic. There are way too many unanswered questions in my opinion.
I wanted to say that this blog post is based on my impressions. There are many times when I do not enjoy books that receive a lot of hype. It could be because I read so much, and so broadly, that I am accustomed to reading several books that deal with the same topic.
Take The Girl on the Train
for instance, I didn't find it very satisfying, I much preferred Strangers on a Train
, which you probably have never heard of.
I recommend that you read The Girl in the Red Coat simply because tastes vary so much when it comes to fiction. Perhaps there are so many unanswered questions because there will be a next book, who knows?
This post contains affiliate links and The Invisible Mentor® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support! Post updated, first published in 2014!
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