The Vanishing of Ruth

1976: friends, Marcus and Ruth, go missing in Afghanistan during an overland bus trip to Kathmandu. A generation later, Ruth's niece Amber, haunted by the disintegration of her family, determines to get at the truth of their disappearance. Was it murder, as her father suspected, or a suicide pact as the police believed? Tracking down the trip's bus driver, Cassidy, Amber starts to piece together a lost world - the mystical vibrant hippy trail to India - and colourful characters like Juliet, who imagined herself the reincarnation of an Edwardian traveller. As the mystery surrounding her aunt and the charismatic Marcus unfolds, Amber begins a journey of discovery of her own, that will lead her not only into the dark secrets of the past and lost love, but face to face with a tragedy much closer to home. Bonus content: * Interview with the author about her own overland adventure as an 18 year old that inspired the story * Discussion notes for reading groups