Child Finder (Denfeld)

The Child Finder 
Rene Denfeld, 2017
HarperCollins
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062659057


Summary
A haunting, richly atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl.

"Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or—is it possible—you are still alive?"

Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now — if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing.

Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope.

Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too.

As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?

Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
Rene Denfeld is a bestselling author, journalist, and licensed investigator. Her debut novel, The Enchanted won numerous honors, including the prestigious French Prix, an ALA Medal for Excellence in Fiction, a Carnegie listing, listing for the International Dublin Literary Award, Book of the Year for the Oregonian, and a finalist for the Center for Fiction Flaherty-Dunnan prize. She has written for the New York Times, Oregonian, and Philadelphia Inquirer.

Rene has been a foster child for twenty years. She was awarded the Break The Silence Award at the 24th Annual Knock Out Abuse Gala in Washington, DC, in recognition for her advocacy and social justice work. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her three children, all adopted from foster care. (Adapted from the pubisher .)

Book Reviews
Denfeld endows her novel with psychological heft, with the ravages of trauma placed front and center. For Naomi, whole swathes of her life have been erased, and for years “she had been running from terrifying shadows she couldn’t see.” For the Snow Girl, drawing on her imagination to retreat into a world of fairy tales is the only means of keeping her mental self intact. Even Mr. B’s tragic past is hinted at, obliquely, giving his character a degree of pathos rarely found in typical thriller fare.… Dark though it is, The Child Finder is superb, revealing a world that contains evil but also goodness. And Rene Denfeld’s writing, artful yet precise, make it a pleasure to read.  READ MORE …
Molly Lundquist - LitLovers


[A] powerful novel about a search for a missing girl that's also a search for identity.… Elegaic, informative and disquieting, it artfully moves between Naomi's painstaking search …and the survival tactics of plucky Maidson.
Michael Callahan - New York Times Book Review


Using multiple voices, Denfeld takes an innovative approach to dealing with the pain of trauma, taking moments of darkness and frailty and probing them in heartbreaking, surprising ways.… The conclusion will leave readers breathless.
Publishers Weekly


Investigator Naomi is especially good at locating lost children because once upon a time she was lost herself. Now she's after Madison Culver, who vanished three years ago in Oregon's Skookum National Forest.… Big in-house love.
Library Journal


And though Denfeld is no doubt trying to explore the psychological realities of this abuse…, her tendency toward florid writing can make her depiction feel romanticized and takes the book at times from disquieting into downright unpalatable. Denfeld's intentions are good, but her tone strikes the wrong notes.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, consider our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for The Child Finder … then take off on your own:

1. How would you describe Naomi? What motivates her to become "the child finder? When asked by Madison's mother how she is able to find lost children, Naomi responds, "I know freedom." What does she mean? Talk about the ways in which Naomi uses her experience, both as a previous captive and as an investigator, to locate missing children?

2. What is Naomi's relationship with Jerome? Why is she unable to settle accept his offer of love? She acknowledges her need to "keep running from terrifying shadows she couldn't see," but wouldn't Jerome offer some protection from those shadows?

3. Something hovers around the edges of Naomi's memory which is trying to reveal itself through her dreams. Did you guess what it is before the end of the book? Why is Naomi unable to remember anything before her life with Mrs. Cottle and Jerome? Talk about those years with her foster family and about Mrs. Cottle's goodness.

4. Naomi tells Madison's mother that if she is able to locate her daughter, that Madison "won't return the same." What does Naomi mean … and how else does Rene Denfeld explore the lasting effects of trauma on survivors of kidnapping and child abuse?

5. Talk about the novel's setting: the mountains, the snow and ice, the darkness of the forest. How does that setting contribute to the book's atmosphere?

6. What are some of the ways Denfeld incorporates fairy tale elements into her novel. Why might she have done so?

7. Talk about Mr. B, both his monstrous side and his tender side. How would you describe his pathology … and does what we learn at the end of the novel help you make sense of his actions?

8. Describe the emotional dynamics between Mr. B and Madison. — why does Madison want to be close to Mr. B yet fear him at the same time? How does her retreat into her imagination help her survive? Finally, how difficult was it for you to read about the physical relationship between Mr. B and Madison?

m. SPOILER ALERT: At the end, Naomi tells Madison that she must own her experience. Why does she say that — what does she mean?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

top of page (summary)