Review

Rhys Bowen's standalone novels have typically been connected to World War II events and The Rose Arbor was no exception. In 1943, the residents of a tiny village called Tyneham (called Tydeham in the book) in Dorset, England, were ordered to evacuate so that the military could use their village for training purposes. In addition, children were being evacuated from London for safety reasons to live with "foster" families in the country. In the relocations and confusions, three young girls went missing and, years later, one of their bodies had been found but the other two have never been found. Flash forward to 1968. Liz Houghton is laboring as an obituary writer at a London newspaper when the disappearance of a young girl becomes a big story. She sees this as an opportunity to become a news writer if she can break the story. When her roommate, Marisa, a police officer, is assigned to the case and mentions that she will be travelling to Dorset to pursue a lead on the case, Liz follows her and is drawn to the village of Tydeham and something about this village seems familiar although she was only two-years-old when the 1943 evacuation occurred. A hunch leads to the discovery of a burned body behind an old manor house in Tydeham and many questions arise. Whose body is this; how did Liz know it was there, and is this connected to the missing young girls from the 1940s? Liz is chastised by the newspaper for her absence as she pursues the multiple mysteries which include tracking her own background and connection to the stories of Tydeham. These stories deepen when she meets the son of the owners of the town's manor house and, together, they pursue answers from their parents and the police to account for the missing children, the young girl who has disappeared, and the involvement of their own families in connecting the dots. Readers will be well-entertained by this historical novel and enjoy Liz Houghton's trip of personal discovery that has developed in connection with solving the fate of the missing.

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