3. ‘The Vanishing of Katharina Linden’ by Helen Grant

As a child, I was enamored with fairy tales. When something went missing at our house or another strange event happened, my young mind would seek out a magical explanation. There was always a bogeyman around the corner, or some other fiendish creature lurking under the bed or inside the closet. Maybe I still do feel that way to some extent. My favorite tales were the ones by the Brothers Grimm. They were so dark and disturbing, so how could I not love them? Those tales from childhood always seem to linger in the back of your mind, even when you become an adult with “proper” issues. I recently picked up The Vanishing of Katharina Linden because the description felt like a nightmare straight from a Brothers Grimm story. While not what I was expecting at all, I did find this book to be quite a charming one that emphasized how stories are used to make sense of tragedies.

The Vanishing of Katharina Linden takes place in a small town in Germany named Bad Münstereifel, where everybody knows each other’s business and gossip tends to run rampant. The story opens with one of the best opening lines I’ve ever read:

“My life might have been so different, had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded.”

From the day her grandmother accidentally set herself on fire, ten-year-old Pia Kolvenbach is shunned and ridiculed by her classmates. Her only friend is another social outcast known as StinkStefan. Pia’s home life isn’t much better, as tensions between her German father and English mother are slowly reaching a breaking point. Her only other friend is the elderly Herr Schiller who loves nothing more than to share the local folk tales, stories of witches who can turn into cats or of the knight whose son is cursed to hunt forever. Pia’s life is forever changed following a horrible tragedy. During a festival, a local girl mysteriously vanishes without a trace. The disappearance of Katharina Linden sends shock waves through the small town as parents are now afraid to let their children roam outside. As one of the last people to see Katharina before she disappears, Pia becomes obsessed with the missing girl and believes that some type of magical cause is responsible. When other children go missing, Pia’s life moves from simple fantasy tales to an adult world of real nightmares.

Helen Grant takes her story beyond the traditional thriller by incorporating fairy tale and horror elements in the tradition of the Grimm Brothers as well as local folklore. In fact, there is a real town in Germany called Bad Münstereifel where Grant and her family lived for some time. While exploring its history and legends, she was inspired to write this novel. The result is a book that works incredibly well on both levels. The atmosphere she invokes is really fantastic. Having the story told from the perspective of a ten-year-old child also works extremely well. Her descriptions of various landmarks, from the creepy mill to the forest all contain a feel of a Grimms Brothers fairy tale. I found it all quite engrossing, from the fantastic tales told to the children to the real horror that lies at the heart of this novel.

Pia is an extremely likable narrator, and it’s easy to feel empathy for her as she is constantly ridiculed by her classmates. Her obsession with learning the truth about the disappearances becomes her only focus as her family slowly begins to unravel. Grant makes it a point to emphasize the role that stories have in our lives. From the folktales retold by Herr Schiller to the town gossip, Grant demonstrates the effects of stories on others, whether it be for good or for evil.

At times, I was confused about the target audience for this book. Although it had a very young adult feel to it, there were definitely moments that seemed written for a more adult audience. There are some moments of real horror in this story, particularly near the end once events reach their climax. I can see how Pia’s unwavering belief in the fantastic helped serve as a barrier to witnessing the true terrors of adult actions.

Another aspect of this novel that was sometimes frustrating was the continued use of actual German vocabulary that appeared throughout the writing. Grant does include a glossary in the back, but I felt like going back to look up a meaning slowed the reading down for me slightly.

For a first novel, the writing was strong. There are moments that are unsettling interspersed with others that are light and humorous. The mystery itself can come across as rather weak, but remember to not read this one for the actual thriller itself. This is a story about a child and how she manages to face the harsh realities of life. We can only hope that some of that childhood innocence remains throughout her life.

“When she vanished, it almost seemed like something from a fairy tale, as though she were one of Grimms’ twelve dancing princesses, who somehow get out of a locked bedroom every night and came home in the morning with their shoes worn to flinders.”

Have you read this book? I’d love to know your thoughts! Let me know with a comment below.