WHAT WAS LOST by Catherine O'Flynn

This stunning debut, set in a shopping centre, focuses on the disappearance of schoolgirl Kate Meany. O'Flynn’s warmth and gut-wrenching humour in handling this bleak subject have won her a batch of well-deserved awards.

The novel opens with Kate's spy-log on shoppers, training for the detective work she longs to do. It then leaps twenty years: Kate’s vanishing cast long shadows on people she never even met. When narcoleptic security guard Kurt spots her on his CCTV and store manager Lisa finds Kate’s toy they are brought together, solving her mystery and laying their own ghosts. Unmissable.