Archive - October 2, 2011

In Search of the Rose Notes by Emily Arsenault (South Africa 2004–06) William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins $14.99 (paperback) 369 pages July 2011 Reviewed by Susan O’Neill (Venezuela 1973-74) SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD ROSE BANKS routinely babysat Nora and her friend Charlotte after school in 1990, while the sixth-graders waited for Charlotte’s parents to return from work. Then Rose vanished one afternoon in November, after walking Nora home. Had she run away? Or was the truth darker, an unspeakable violation of the peaceful New England town where they lived? Stricken by the knowledge that she had been the last person to see the charming, irreverent Rose before she disappeared, Nora reluctantly joined Charlotte in an attempt to solve the mystery, with help from Charlotte’s beloved Time/Life books on The Occult. It was a fruitless collaboration that ultimately derailed the girls’ childhood friendship. Fast-forward to May, 2006: Charlotte, who teaches in the same . . .