Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #249289 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Synopsis
Six years ago Esther and Gemma went travelling in search of adventure, but only Esther returned. Now she has gone back to India, determined to find out what happened to her best friend and to put the dreadful ghosts of their time there to rest.

Customer Reviews

I loved The Beach and I loved Losing Gemma
This is said with reference to the quote on the cover of the book.
I enjoyed knowing the outcome of the story at the beginning of the book (or thinking I did anyway) as it gave me a strange sense of superiority over the narrator Esther. All through the book I wanted to shout at Esther that she should know better than to do what she has just done - then gradually and sadly realised that she didn't and than she had to go through all the experiences she did just to find her real self.
As someone who didn't go back packing the life seems appealing although I would never have wanted the discomfort - so reading about someone else is a great way of soaking up the experience.
I couldn't stop reading the book and would recommend it highly.

I felt like I travelled with them.
I was a bit sceptical when I was given this book by a friend but I was however pleasantly suprised. Katy Gardner really does have a flair for making you feel like you are with them on their journey and unlike The Beach (which I felt I was looking in on) I felt every bump in the road with these characters. The book was full of suprises and a good easy read.

Tense Psychological Drama - I Loved It!
The way the story unfolds is very engaging. Most of it is written in the past tense, seen from the perspective of the apparently self confident Ester. She views her childhood friend Gemma as rather dim, and lucky to have the street wise Ester as a companion.

However, a different view of what Gemma actually thinks is portrayed in the occasional paragraph written in itallics. We learn that Gemma is actually the nicer person, and not the sap that Ester takes her for.

Ester thinks that she can breeze her way through any situation and come up tops. The tension steadily rises after the hippy Coral attaches herself to them, and events spiral out of Ester's control, into her worst nightmare.

The second part of the book is as interesting as the first, with a satisfying twist in the tale!