It Could Have Been Her
While walking her dogs, Jane Trevally stumbles upon a stray terrier, sparking the search for a missing teenage girl. Her quest to return the dog leads her to Thornwood - a decaying house in Hampstead that is intrinsically tied to Jane's own traumatic past.
The evasive stranger at the door denies any knowledge of the missing girl, but a fleeting glimpse of a haunted woman inside confirms Jane's worst fears. Drawing on suppressed memories from a quarter-century ago, Jane must confront the dark, intertwined secrets of Thornwood to unravel the mystery of the missing teenager and face the ghosts of her own history.
- Jane - Protagonist, 55
- Claire - Missing girl
- Hugo - Jessamine’s dog
- Dexter - Jane’s step-son
- Tony - Jane’s second ex-husband, Dexter’s father
- Rose - Missing young woman
- Helen - Rose’s landlady
- Stuart (Mr. Tucker) - Jessamine’s boyfriend
- Jessamine - Stuart’s girlfriend
- Allen - Annie’s husband, Jessamine’s father
- Annie - Allen’s wife, Jessamine’s mother
- Vivienne - Annie’s mother
- Daisy - Claire and Allen’s daughter
- Jasper - Jessamine’s brother
- Shannon - Jane’s dogsitter
- Spencer - George’s father
- George - Daisy’s childhood friend
- Harvey - Man who Daisy was told is her father
- Jane finds a dog while out on a walk and returns it to its owner, Stuart.
- Jane recognizes the house - When Jane was twenty-nine she met an older man in a bar who invited her to his house to meet his wife and possibly work as their nanny. While she was there she got very uncomfortable vibes and fled.
- Stuart answers the door and says he rents the house and has lived there for ten years. He is not the man from the bar.
- A woman named Rose who owned a little white dog that looked like Hugo has gone missing.
- Jane asks Dexter if he knows Rose and he says no.
- Ten years earlier: Stuart gets into a relationship with Jessamine.
- Present: Jane decides she is going to solve the mystery of where Rose disappeared to.
- Before: After Allen and Annie have two children, Annie stops having sex with him, so Allen starts bringing women home to be au pairs and have sex with him.
- Present: Jane figures out Stuart lives in that house with someone named Jessamine.
- Jane and Dexter find out Jessamine has a daughter named Daisy and wonder if Rose is Daisy.
- Jane finds a photo of Jessamine’s father and recognizes him as the man who she went home with from the bar all those years ago.
- Jane goes into the outhouse behind Stuart’s house and finds a metal chair and chains attached to the wall.
- There is no record of Jessamine giving birth to a child.
- There is record of a girl named Claire going missing in 2005 who was last seen near Allen and Annie’s home.
- Jane finds photos confirming that the missing Rose is Daisy.
- Seven years earlier: Stuart is living with Jessamine, Daisy and Annie.
- Jessamine becomes abusive and controlling over Stuart but he stays because he’s fond of Daisy and wants her to have a good parent figure in her life.
- Stuart finds out that Harvey did a DNA test two years prior and found out Daisy is not his child.
- Before: Allen kidnapped Claire and kept her as his domestic and sex slave.
- Present: Stuart tells Jane and Dexter that six years earlier police came to Jessamine’s house looking for clues about the missing Claire.
- They didn’t find anything but after they left Stuart found a picture of a girl in leg chains.
- Jane goes to Stuart’s house where Daisy has been for the last several weeks.
- Daisy tells Jane that when the police came to the house six years earlier and showed her a picture of Claire, she felt Claire could be her mother.
- After being obsessed with the idea that Claire was her mother for six years, Daisy decided to find Jasper and ask him what he knew about Claire.
- Jasper tells Daisy she is Claire’s daughter but says something happened that caused him to run away from home, and tells her to ask Annie what happened to Claire.
- Stuart shows Jane Annie’s corpse in the outhouse. Daisy tells Jane she pushed Annie down the stairs the previous week when Annie wouldn’t answer her questions about what happened to Claire.
- Jessamine tells police she pushed Annie because Annie killed her father and because Annie and Allen killed several women.
- There are rooms below Annie’s study where Allen used to keep the women, and police find the remains of Allen and the women there.
- Daisy is Claire and Allen’s child.
- Stuart moves out of Jessamine’s house.
- Daisy goes to live with Spencer and George.
- Six months later: Jasper’s body is found in the woods. His death is believed to be suicide.
- Jessamine is in rehab and facing manslaughter charges for Annie’s death.
- Epilogue: The incident that made Jasper run away from home was him going into the rooms below the study and finding Allen and Claire both dead. Jessamine told him Claire killed Allen, so she killed Claire.
This mystery centers on a missing young woman and introduces a massive cast right out of the gate. Lisa Jewell handles the shifting perspectives and timelines so seamlessly that it never gets confusing. She establishes how everyone connects early on, keeping the focus tight on the character dynamics and making it easy to track the roster. The short chapters maintain a fast pace and make it tough to put the book down. I kept telling myself I would stop after one more section, only to get pulled right back in to see how the puzzle pieces were going to fit together.
The dynamic between Jane and Dexter was a major highlight. Dexter is a fun sidekick to Jane, bringing great energy and depth to her personal arc. Even though I was able to piece together the ending a little before the final reveal, it did not take away from the experience at all. The author maintains a strong character focus the whole way through, and everything wraps up with a highly satisfying payoff that ties up the loose ends exactly the way you want.
If you like character-driven mysteries, short chapters, and multiple timelines, then you will enjoy this book
- Annie - Dead - Pushed down the stairs by Daisy
- Jessamine - Alive - Awaiting trial for Annie’s manslaughter
- Daisy - Alive - Living with Spencer and George
- Stuart - Alive - Free from Jessamine
- Jane - Alive - Moving to London, possibly ready to become a private investigator
- Allen - Dead - Stabbed by Annie
- Jasper - Dead - Committed suicide
- Claire - Dead - Stabbed by Jessamine
- Stalking
- Death of a parent
- Alcoholism
- Animal death
- Domestic violence
- Suicide
Publisher: Atria Books
ISBN: 9781668033906
Publication Date: June 23, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
