This book tells, in part, the story of Paula Welden, a woman who went missing in Vermont in the 1940s, though through a fictional lens. I found the story intriguing, This story tells a hypothetical end to Paula's story - as she was never found. I enjoyed the writing and storytelling, though at times found it slightly meandering. This was one of my most anticipated books of 2022 and I am very pleased to have read it early!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the chance to read this book!

QUANTUM GIRL THEORY: A missing girl, by virtue of having endless possible lives, is more real than a non-missing girl, who gets only one life, at most.

And so becomes true life Paula Jean Weldon and her bright red parka — she falls into the mystery of forever-missing girls. In the narrative, this quantum Paula is not missing, but living 15 years later as Mary Garrett, a self-made detective/recently gifted psychic who specializes in, um, missing girls. This 21st century quantum version of Paula could be Lisa Gardner’s Frankie Elkin. Mary inserts herself in cases as having a “deep women’s intuition” which is really “I’m a missing girl — I know something about why you go missing and try to stay missing.” Without the internet or tech of today, Mary really has to gumshoe her way to resolutions and rely on the “Sight”.

Rather than specifically “solving” the real Paula’s fate, the book is a musing on the imagined fates of all forever-missing people, much like Shirley Jackson’s Hangsaman and Donna Tart’s The Secret History which also took up the Weldon story in the Bennington Triangle of missing persons. However, Mary has psychic dreams of missing girls and somewhat scattered memories of how Paula became Mary — it was sometimes confusing to follow the present storyline and discern what were Mary’s visions vs. what were Mary’s memories. Part of the narrative was about “The Girl” who we assume was Paula turning into Mary, but I felt it would have been clearer to just call that person Paula of 1946. Much of the present day story (1961) revolved around Mary’s desperation regarding her next meal, her next place of lodging, and wondering how she will ever earn some money to move on. A dark cloud hovered over much of the story with just Mary’s circumstances, not just the fates of the missing. And then suddenly, we’re in 1996, seeing another quantum Paula who has survived another 35 years.

3 stars, although I really wished I could have upgraded that. The premise of incorporating the story of a real missing girl was intriguing and kept me going. I was totally drawn to the mysteries of Paula/Mary and the missing girls that Mary hunts, but the structure seemed often to be scattered, flitting around timelines and past or future visions that may or not have been true. There were too many stories to keep track of. The ending(s) were what totally put me over the edge. At one point I thought the story of Paula was wrapped up, but then the last chapter, the story of Mary ends abruptly and was unsatisfactory. Did that quantum Paula die?

Thanks Random House and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Literary Pet Peeve Checklist:
Green Eyes (only 2% of the real world, yet it seems like 90% of all fictional females): NO. None whatsoever! This broke a streak of reading 8 books in a row with green-eyed people.
Horticultural Faux Pas (plants out of season or growing zones, like daffodils in autumn or bougainvillea in Alaska): NO. It’s mostly December in Vermont for Paula; February in North Carolina for Mary. There are also mentions of imaginary orchids and lady slippers.

Quantum Girl Theory is a meandering, cross-temporal musing on the mystery of missing girls. Drawing inspiration from the case of Paula Welden, a Bennington college student who disappeared in 1946, this book follows a few strands of plots centering around what may have happened to Paula and who she became after vanishing into the Vermont woods. I found the premise extremely promising, but the execution left me a bit underwhelmed. I found myself a bit confused by the circuitous vignettes, and the main storyline -- a woman (formerly Paula) making a living off the rewards of families seeking information on missing girls -- was not as compelling as I'd wished. There is some interesting threads of race and sexuality that I wish were explored deeper, as the intersectionality of these missing girl's/women's identities added an interesting extra layer.

2/5: A unique, semi-mystery that ultimately could've used a bit more structure and depth.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.