Elizabeth is missing

Maud, in her eighties and the narrator of this novel, suffers from dementia. She asks the same questions over and over again and no longer likes reading because she can never remember where she left off. Sometimes she doesnt even recognize her daughter and granddaughter. All over her house are bits of paper telling her what she should or shouldnt do. One of these notes says that her friend Elizabeth is missing. Maud is determined to find out what happened to her. Mauds search triggers memories about the time Sukey, her older sister, disappeared, just after the Second World War, and was never found. Being constantly inside Mauds mind gives us a clear picture of what aging feels like. Despite the descriptions of the frustration and anger that dementia causes, the tone of the novel is warm and funny rather than sombre.