Book review: Half The World Away by Cath Staincliffe. When your worst nightmare comes true what would you do?

Estranged couple Tom and Jo Maddox find themselves in China desperately searching for their missing daughter Lori, who has disappeared whilst working in Chengdu.  Lori a first class honours graduate, a keen photographer and blogger shares her trip though her blogs and vibrant photography... that is until she stops posting on her blog or contacting her friends and family.

Thrown into an alien world with a different culture, language and with the bureaucracy of the Chinese Police force to contend with Jo and Tom become increasingly frightened and desperate as they frantically try to find their daughter.
In Half The World Away, Staincliffe keeps us on a slow boil as she immerses us in the normalcy of Jo and Tom's Manchesterlives.  Jo, remarried with two young sons (one of whom is sickly), working as a school secretary and with a newly redundant slightly depressed husband is torn

Manchester

from family life to find her daughter.   Tom is single but with his own successful business and no familial support becomes more impetuous as their search intensifies.  Then, the heat turns up figuratively and literally as Jo and Tom are thrown into the palpable hot humid Chinese environment where nothing is clear to them and they are unsure how well the authorities ar investigating Loro's disappearance.  Staincliffe creates a good balance between the beauty and uniqueness of China juxtaposed with Jo and Tom's building anxiety.  By dipping in and out of Lori's blog, Staincliffe effectively creates a novel way to use 'flashbacks' to keep Lori's presence ever in our mind as the days pass.

Chengdu

A beautiful, poignant story that get's to the heart of any parent's worse fear and scrutinises, with empathy, the parent's desperation and fear whilst encapturing the beauty of China  but also exposing the frustration of relying on authorities outwith their understanding.
An emotional read, well written, shocking and sensitive!

Check out Cath's Amazon page for  more information on her books http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cath-Staincliffe/e/B0034NRTFO/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1430905860&sr=8-2-ent