The Taken

Whispers from the Forgotten Child

The Taken by Alice Clark-Platts plunges readers into the shadowed corridors of grief and the desperate search for lost innocence. When eleven-year-old Charlie Larkin vanishes from the sleepy village of Moorhaven during a midsummer fête, her disappearance fractures the tight-knit community and incites a media frenzy. Five years later, Charlie’s mother, Isabel, still haunted by unanswered questions and nightmares of her daughter’s fate, returns to Moorhaven determined to uncover the truth. With every creaking floorboard and every forgotten footpath, the ruins of Charlie’s last known whereabouts beckon Isabel back into a world of half-remembered rumors, hidden traumas, and the faint hope that the child she loves may yet be found.

Echoes of Betrayal and Redemption

As Isabel revisits old acquaintances—her once-best friend now reticent, the local police sergeant embattled by guilt, and the enigmatic historian who catalogues Moorhaven’s darkest secrets—she uncovers unsettling inconsistencies in the original investigation. Strange symbols scrawled under the bridge where Charlie was last seen, whispers of clandestine gatherings in the ruined chapel, and a series of anonymous letters hinting at a cover-up begin to paint a portrait of a community reluctant to confront its own shadows. With every revelation, Isabel finds herself both closer to the truth and deeper in danger, for someone in Moorhaven is determined to keep the past buried.

Faith, Fear, and the Final Revelation

Clark-Platts weaves a tapestry of suspense and emotion, juxtaposing vivid descriptions of the Cornish coastline’s wild beauty with the claustrophobic dread of secrets long concealed. As Isabel navigates crumbling stone walls and salt-tanged winds, she must summon the courage to face her darkest fears and challenge the lies that have imprisoned her life for half a decade. In a heart-stopping climax beneath the gothic arches of the abandoned manor, mother and daughter confront the ultimate test of faith—and discover that the bond of love can illuminate even the deepest darkness.

. Alice Clark-Platts is a bestselling British author renowned for her atmospheric domestic thrillers, masterful plotting, and her poignant explorations of family, loss, and the redemptive power of truth.