What if - by a seeming stroke of fortune - you could start again, could start afresh and wipe away that one catastrophic blunder in your past. Just how far would you go to establish that you had, in fact, done nothing wrong at all? After an accident causes Hazel to have amnesia, and she loses three years' worth of her memory, just such an opportunity is presented to her ex-boyfriend Jonathan. He is absolutely undone by his betrayal of this woman, whom he professes to love above all, and he is determined to do everything within his power to make it up to her; to earn her forgiveness.

While Jonathan begins to rewrite his and Hazel's history together, two other misfits - an American sojourner and an unlucky English actress - travel around London, each of them haunted by indelible memories which they would much rather forget. Eventually their hopes for redemption draw them toward Jonathan and Hazel, who has become a virtual prisoner of Jonathan's most cherished whims and desires. The story that follows is a brilliantly inverted love story: a story which chronicles one man's desperate attempts to realize and rationalize a lie, and a woman's harrowing attempts to recognize the truth.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Margot Livesey is, in my opinion, a terrific writer, and she captures the essence of characters beautifully. As a matter of fact, the character of Charlotte is so like my sister-in-law, they could have been twins. I give The Missing World: A Novel by Margot Livesey a definite A! ( )

"...that which we do not remember, we are doomed to repeat. As far as I'm concerned it's the other way round. We repeat what we remember. Only forgetfulness sets us free." (175) ( )

I love this author's writing, particularly the first book of hers I had read [book:Eva Moves the Furniture|824768]. When I found this yesterday at a book sale, it seemed the perfect book for my plane ride home. It was quite good - the transition of the Jonathan from protagonist to antagonist was interesting; I despised him by the end of the story. The various forms of selfishness in nearly all hpthe characters made me like the human race just a little bit less for a while. I did find the story line of the roofer-as-hero to be too far fetched for my liking, but as a character, he was quite satisfying and redemptive amidst the others. ( )

Interesting, interlocking stories, a dearth of likable characters. More clever than emotional. ( )

Super smart with great characters who all have really interesting jobs. ( )