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Cover of Mothtown by Caroline Hardaker

Mothtown

Caroline Hardaker

A lonely boy grows up amid disappearances and family secrets, chasing clues to his grandfather and a possible other world.

First published 2023

Review Score: 65%

More about this book

The Story

David grows up in a world where people keep disappearing and the adults around him refuse to explain what is happening. His grandfather is the one person who truly understands him, but then he too is gone, and David cannot accept the official story.

The novel moves between David’s childhood and his later life, following both his memories and his search for answers. As he tries to follow the clues left behind, the world around him becomes stranger, less stable, and harder to trust, while the mystery of the disappearances and the “Modern Problem” deepens.

Another thread follows a man moving through a hostile landscape, trying to get home with something important. The two timelines gradually connect, with the book withholding answers until late in the story and keeping the reader inside David’s uncertainty about what is real and what has been lost.