Thank you to Bonnier UK Audio, Embla Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. But Margaret is who she is and I loved her so much for her kind heart and her innocent soul-I was so scared for her throughout and didn’t want her to be hurt anymore that she had been in the past. So it was my past that drew me to this book but it was my present that kept me there-making me run a gauntlet of emotions! I hope to find a book like this in the near future, as it was a memorable story that I didn’t want to end. Much of the inspiration for Neil Alexander's debut novel, 'The Vanishing of Margaret Small', came directly from the voices of people with a learning disability, and the incredibly moving first person accounts of living in long stay institutions, which he heard while working for the UK charity Mencap.

What made this book stand out, was that in addition to those qualities, it’s based on institutions that really existed. all eventually leaving her behind; the work, some of which she liked, especially when she was good at it, some of which it was wrong to make patients do. On the contrary, the author thoughtfully makes use of this aspect of Margaret’s personality in almost every chapter. I quite liked this nice little book that should appeal to readers who (like me) enjoyed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson, or Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman, or The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce, or any of the books by Frederik Backman.Margaret as the narrator in the story is engaging throughout, and the audible narrator is pitch perfect. Based upon interviews with ‘people with learning disabilities’, the author has created a fictionalized tribute to those people, while also reminding us of the dire treatment of these individuals just a few short decades ago.

I really enjoyed the way this is written, it was an easy read and quite the page turner, not only do we learn of Margaret’s life but we also have some mystery along the way. Cilla’s death has hit her hard but shortly after she starts to receive letters and gifts signed “C”. And even though Margaret went through a lot and had such a hard life she is still an amazingly kind and understanding person.The scenarios mentioned in the book around how people with disabilities were treated is shockingly true to its core.