A missing girl rewrites an entire story the moment she disappears.”

A novel that’s been sitting in my NetGalley queue for too long, Erin Kate Ryan’s Quantum Girl Theory is speculative historical fiction with a vital message. “On December 1, 1946,” as the prologue outlines, “Paula Jean Welden put on a bright red parka, left her dorm, and...” vanished, leaving America to speculate on what happened to the pretty, blonde Bennington College sophomore. Did she have a terrible home life she wanted to flee? Did she leave the country and establish a new identity? Did she meet a violently abusive boyfriend? Was she kidnapped by a stranger and violently murdered? There are multiple possibilities.

But this real-life case remains unsolved.

The main plotline occurs in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, in 1961. Disembarking after a bus trip, Mary Garrett has followed the trail of a poster offering a $7000 reward for information on the whereabouts of another missing girl named Polly Starking. Mary’s motives aren’t altruistic; she’s somewhat of an opportunistic scavenger, going from town to town offering help in finding lost women using her claimed clairvoyant abilities, collecting and living off the payments even when the women aren’t found alive. She has saved some girls, but not nearly enough of them.

The twist here is that Mary had been a missing person herself, the girl once known as Paula Jean. Mary’s unpredictable flashes of second sight began five years earlier and cause her tremendous anguish, since they grant her glimpses of people’s fearful lives and final moments.

Ryan excels at illustrating the unsettling atmosphere of this small town in the Jim Crow South in the early '60s: the Starking household, with its “cheerful yellow Formica table” and vague air of oppressive patriarchy; the pushy town sheriff and his lurking presence; and stories about two Black girls gone missing which Mary learns about, in unorthodox fashion, from Martha, the Black maid at the cheap motel where Mary stays. As Mary insinuates herself into the Starking family, she sees hints about Polly (who shares her own former nickname, “Paul”) and theorizes a connection between her and the other two girls, whose disappearances nobody cares about, aside from their families.

The author’s writing echoes with honesty about society’s lack of attention to troubled women, aside from the lurid fascination at their disappearance, and how race affects these perceptions. That and the North Carolina storyline, with its pervasive sense of dread, are the strongest parts of the book. However, Ryan intersperses these episodes with long chapters exploring alternate continuations of Paula Jean Welden’s story. Some people and motifs recur in these tales and in Mary’s: a bright red parka, a memorable wristwatch, another young woman Mary once knew. While author's purpose in showing these multiple timelines is understandable, the result is confusing and causes the momentum to slow. The ambiguous ending doesn’t help.

The novel’s Goodreads reviews aren’t stellar, with an overall rating of 2.91. I wouldn’t disagree, but for me that number works best as an average: four stars or more for the principal story, two or less for the “alternate history” spinouts. If the idea of this novel intrigues you, you may want to stick to the main plotline and skim or skip the rest.

Quantum Girl Theory is a book about a missing girl named Paula Jean Belden. The story jumps back and forth between different chapters about Paula's life. Some chapters are about what might have happened to Paula after she disappeared, and other chapters are about Paula's new life as a woman named Mary.

Mary has visions that help her find other missing girls. The book is written in a dreamy way and raises important questions about race, gender, and missing persons cases.

The book is good, but it's a little confusing to follow because of all the different names and timelines. I give it 3 stars.

I thought QUANTUM GIRL THEORY would be a perfect October read - it seemed a bit sci fi, a bit creepy, and a bit mysterious. Unfortunately, the noel didn't live up to expectations and instead was a slightly meandering, hard to follow series of short stories that only vaguely make up a full plot.

I was drawn in by the fact that it is centered around a real missing persons story from a women's college in the 1940s. The book presupposed a few different theories about what happened to Paula Jean, and I loved the idea of this speculative fiction.

However, after a while, I was missing the idea of a concrete story and found it hard to have my attention kept.Regardless, I thought that Ryan's writing was good and perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood. It's a fantastic idea for a book and I also enjoyed the magical aspects to the story. Not right for me, but maybe right for you!

This book is definitely an acquired taste, and I can see why readers will either love or hate this book. It is definitely an entertaining read for me. I may have had to backtrack a bit because of the differing "pasts" of Mary, but it gave me a different type of story than most, making for a read that stood out.

Quantum Girl Theory by Erin Kate Ryan is a polarizing book that readers will likely either love or well, not love. It adds a unique spin to the multiverse concept by focusing on giving voice to missing girls, especially non-white missing girls. For concept alone, I appreciate the effort, though it lost me a bit in execution.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

When I started this book I honestly had no idea what to expect. While reading this book you follow a character who is trying to solve the mystery of why this girl went missing and if she is dead, who killed her? I listened to this book on audio because it does have some interviews and articles in it and I love listening to those types of media. However, it only added to the story and I read it in one sitting! I just wish it would've been a little bit longer.

This was not what I expected. I thought it was going to be a collection of stories that all started the same, exploring the different directions they could take. It kind of did some of that, but also kept returning to the same story again and again, which just wasn't what I was looking for. But it explored some interesting ideas and I would read from this author again.

Theres just some historical fiction that just isn’t for me. This is one of those books. I ended up not finishing it. But 2 stars because this cover is gorgeous

This was a hard book to get into but once I did, it was very good. I love the mystery and the ghostly elements so give it a try!

Tragic, haunting, and beautifully written. I loved this on a sentence by sentence level. However, it's not quite the captivating mystery it's billed to be. The lead, Mary Garrett, has a knack for finding missing girls. In fact, she herself is one. Yes, you read that correctly. In an alternate life, she was a college student who disappeared in the 40s. Interesting premise. I did like that this novel touched on the inherent racism that exists when the missing girls aren't blue-eyed and blonde. That was a nice touch.

I started this one and I had a hard time getting into the book. It just wasn't grabbing me at the time, so I did not finish... I appreciate the consideration!

Based loosely on the December 1946 disappearance of Paula “Paul” Welden, this novel muses on Paul’s many possible lives after her disappearance, and her efforts to remain undetected. In 1961, drawn by a ‘missing’ poster for a young white girl (confusingly nicknamed Paul), Mary Garrett finds herself in small-town Jim Crow South, enticed by the hope of temporary food and lodging while she imparts her visions to grieving parents, as she’s done many times before. Danger threatens in the form of a menacing local sheriff as Mary divines too much, including a connection to two missing Black girls.

This is a disturbing book, edgy, raw, a difficult, sometimes frustrating read which is open to interpretation as to context and meaning. Mary is a lost soul, plagued by memories of hers and/or Paul’s previous lives. Although she evokes pity, she is not a sympathetic character and is easy to dislike in a cast of unlikeable people. In her visions Mary sees flashes of family history, often unpleasant, often involving indictments of parents. The novel uses time with abandon, making it hard to keep track of where we are and with whom. The crossover between Mary’s personal memories and those of the missing girls blurs the line between reality and the imaginary. Fortunately, the chapters delineate name, place, and date.

It doesn’t do to overthink the novel, as its maze-like complexity hinders most attempts to unmask its secrets. I could find no fault with the quality of the writing, which overflows with an unrelentingly harsh but profound truthfulness about humanity, but my overall impression is that the author is the only one who knows what is going on. I was left as baffled by the end as I am by the science of quantum physics, and the conclusion provided no satisfactory resolution for me.

I wasn’t too sure about this book when I accepted the review request. I had read mixed reviews for Quantum Girl Theory, and from what I read, either people loved this book or hated it. I had read very few reviews that were middle ground. What ultimately made me accept this book was based on a disappearance in the 1940s that never got solved. I was curious to see how the author weaved her story around Paula Jean Welden’s disappearance.

Quantum Girl Theory is a story about a girl who disappeared and speculations about what happened to her. Mary is a clairvoyant who makes money from finding missing girls—dead or alive but more often dead. She arrives in Elizabethtown, North Carolina, and immediately contacts the parents of Paula, who has recently gone missing. The investigation into Paula’s disappearance will uncover secrets. These secrets people will kill to keep hidden. But there is more to Mary than what people see. Mary has her own reasons for finding these missing girls. Will Mary find Paula? Or will she be silenced before she can tell the truth?

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, this story is loosely based on the real-life disappearance of Paula Jean Welden (I included a link to the New England Historical Society). I am fascinated with anything true crime and was secretly thrilled that Quantum Girl Theory was taking a 60-year-old disappearance and shining some light on it. The author’s research was excellent, and I loved how she took any/all rumors and incorporated them into the book. But, it did fall a little flat for me.

The main storyline (with Mary, in 1961) was interesting to read. I didn’t particularly like Mary. She was so depressing, and it did bring down the book in some parts. I wish I could say that my opinion of her improved as the book went on. It didn’t. She remained the same throughout the book. Not all characters have to be likable, and Mary was not. I did like that the author did that.

I was surprised at how the 1961 storyline went. I wasn’t expecting the other two girls to be added to Mary’s investigation. There was a point in the book where I wondered why the author introduced them, but there is a link to Paula’s disappearance. I was surprised at how and why they were linked. I was also surprised by the common denominator behind all three disappearances.

The memories were fascinating. I did have some issues following along. There were times when I wasn’t sure if it was Mary remembering another Paula’s life or it was Mary’s life. I did have to reread several of those memories to make sure what I was reading (if that makes sense). It did lessen my enjoyment of the book for me.

The end of Quantum Girl Theory did confuse me a little. I couldn’t figure out what was happening, which seldom happened. I did figure it was obvious but then second-guessed myself. I also was irritated because I felt that nothing got wrapped up. That, along with cliff-hangers, are my most significant irritant with these types of books.

I would recommend Quantum Girl Theory to anyone over 21. There is moderate violence, language, and sex/sexual situations. There is also racism and discrimination.

Interesting book based on a true crime that read too slow for me. I really enjoy true crime but in this book I kept waiting for a something big to happen and nothing really popped.
Thank you to Netgalley, Random House and the Author, Erin Kate Ryan for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really love books about missing persons, so when I was invited to read this one, it sounded right up my alley! While this is based on a real missing persons case - of a young college woman who disappeared on March 1, 1946 - this is more of an experimental fiction book than a mystery. Ryan offers a multitude of Paula Jeans - where she may have been or might have gone - though the most detailed version puts her with a new name and given second sight that she uses to find other missing women. In 1961, she travels south to North Carolina to find another missing Paula, though the town is also missing young women of color, drawing "Mary" to uncover the town's secrets to uncover what happened.

But between this 1961 narrative, other possibilities of Paula's life emerge - some more satisfying and others more heartbreaking (abuses, lost loves and murder) with some familiar elements woven across. While I think that this could be a lively discussion starter for book clubs and other groups, this just didn't work for me. I like to have a more concrete story. This was overall unsatisfying - and it started to feel a bit like reading someone else's dream journal. There were some recognizable moments, but nothing truly relatable. I was tempted to set this one aside without finishing it, actually when I realized that it wasn't actually building towards anything, but ended up reading on. But, after finishing it, I do sort of wish that I had. The writing itself is solid, but the lack of characters that felt realistic and the hypothetical plot just didn't work for me,

This was a different take on missing girls. Imagining where they have gone and what they have become. The story was good and was written well.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I appreciated the Authors writing, but I don't think that I was the right reader for this book. I ended up DNF about 50% in. It had nothing to do with the quality of the book, I just couldn't connect with the story.

In Erin Kate Ryan's recently published historical fiction mystery Quantum Girl Theory, Mary Garrett focuses on finding missing girls, and she keeps her own past, her secrets, and her emotions about all of it penned up tightly.

When she arrives in the Jim Crow South to investigate a girl who has disappeared, she finds that two Black girls went missing as well, but local law enforcement hasn't put resources into finding them.

As Mary's search for all three girls intensifies, we find that Mary herself was a "missing girl," Paula Jean Welden, who vanished one night in 1946. Ryan explores various alternate histories and life tracks for Paula Jean while "Mary" digs more deeply into the circumstances surrounding the modern-day disappearances of the Southern girls.

The title and cover made me think "science fiction," but Quantum Girl Theory is rooted in historical fiction and offers a solid, twisty mystery as it moves through various fascinating potential realities that might have been. I wondered if the structure--which explores multiple girls' various possible lives and situations--would make this story feel disjointed, or if I'd be able to connect to the characters.

With the multiple girls at hand, I had to flip back a few times to make sure Ryan was writing about the character I thought she was writing about, but that definitely could have been a personal problem related to reading while tired.

Regardless, I was hooked on this book and fascinated by what felt like multiple genres in one story, with unexpectedly deep dives into Quantum Girl Theory's various characters. Mary was a captivating main protagonist--alternately desperate and hopeful, but always dogged in her search, even as it threatened to destroy her.

I received a prepublication digital galley of this book courtesy of NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group.

The story itself was interesting and the premise of the book was intriguing. I was lost, however, because of the style of writing. I had a hard time following it. Others will probably like it but I couldn’t get into it because of the way the story was presented.

This is a really tough book to review, but I’ll say one word and that’s WOW! It’s written in a style that is beautiful, haunting, and gripping! The book was a bit chilling and even scary in parts, but it was also one that kept me flipping pages! I was sad when I found out that it was based on true crime case, because the author wrote it in such an emotional way, it made me feel a bit heartbroken! Would absolutely recommend to those interested in a well written story, based on a real story, that makes sure to haunt the heck out of you!