The Missing

After World War I, Sam Simoneaux returns to New Orleans determined to leave mayhem and destruction behind, and to start anew with his wife years after losing a son to illness. But when a little girl disappears from the department store where he works, he has no recourse but to join her musician parents on a Mississippi excursion steamboat, hoping to unearth clues somewhere along the river. Though ill-prepared for the lawless hinterland, where violence is just another way of life, he enforces tolerable behavior onboard and ventures ashore to piece together what happened to the girl - making a discovery that not only endangers everyone involved but also sheds new light on the murder of his own family decades before. Steeped in the music and langorous rhythms of prohibition Louisiana, this is a gripping tale of redemption, vengeance and moral choice. Relentlessly suspensful and deeply moving, it is the finest demonstration yet of Gautreaux s ability to render landscape, history and hope.

About the Author :
Born and raised in Louisiana, Tim Gautreaux lives there still with his family and is Writer-in-Residence at Southeastern Louisiana University. His stories have been published in Harper's, the Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Zoetrope, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, and Best American Short Stories, and collected in two volumes. Acclaimed as 'one of the best writers to have emerged in the 1990s' by Kirkus Reviews, his first novel, THE NEXT STEP IN THE DANCE won the 1999 SEBA Book Award, and was followed in 2003 by highly acclaimed THE CLEARING. In 2005, he was awarded the John Dos Passos Prize.

Review :
This is a beautifully written novel. Tim Gautreaux is an effortless storyteller in the mould of an Annie Proulx and, like her, he applies the simplest of phrases to create the most profound effects. - Weekend Gold Coast Bulletin A riveting, neat-but- never -tidy joy of a story that readers should savour but will more likely devour. - Weekend Australian If you want to find the real New Orleans, open Tim Gautreaux s new novel The Missing. Here is a storyteller with a yarn that readers won t want to interrupt. - Weekend Australian This beautifully composed novel is set on a strong moral compass that illustrates the chasm between whites and blacks, and the poor and the rick in the 1920 s, as we follow Sam on his physical and emotional journey. - Courier Mail It s hard not to think of Mark Twain when you read this hypnotic and eventful river journey. - The Age A rustic whodunnit, overflowing with Southern characters. - Marie Claire This fine and powerful novel of ideas and brilliantly reimagined histories offers us an Everyman to rival the greatest waterway creations of Mark Twain himself. - Hobart Mercury As the remorseless hunt unfolds it gains in intensity, becoming more primal, and so steamy you can almost smell the sour sweat of those backwoods boys rising from the page. Superb heart-of-darkness stuff. - Qantas, The Australian Way