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Forgetting Zoë
Zoë Nielsen was just like any other 10-year-old walking to school, when a chance encounter with Thurman Hayes would lead to her abduction and imprisonment in a bunker 4,000 miles away from her home. Enslaved underground, the girl Zoe once was steadily begins to disappear. But when Hayes grows tired of Zoë and decides to get rid of her, Zoë must finally make her bid for freedom.
288 pages, Audible Audio
First published January 1, 2010
7 people are currently reading
131 people want to read
About the author
Ray Robinson
6Ìýbooks21ÌýfollowersRobinson first won attention in 2006 with his debut novel, Electricity. It was shortlisted for both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Authors' Club First Novel Award. The film adaptation of Electricity, starring Agyness Deyn, Tom Georgeson, and Christian Cooke, made its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival 2014, and won Best Screenplay at the National Film Awards 2015.
Robinson's other novels are The Man Without (2008), Forgetting Zoe (2010), and Jawbone Lake (2014).
Forgetting Zoe was a winner of the inaugural Jerwood Fiction Uncovered prize and was the Observer's 'Thriller of the Month'. Robinson was hailed as 'among the most impressive voices of Britain's younger generation' by the Irish Times, and the Irish Independent called Jawbone Lake 'a literary thriller of the highest order'.
Robinson is a post-graduate of Lancaster University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Creative Writing in 2006, and is a Mentor for The Literary Consultancy. He has appeared at literary festivals around the world, including La Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara, Mexico, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Robinson is currently working on a feature-length screenplay, and a novel for teenagers.
Robinson's other novels are The Man Without (2008), Forgetting Zoe (2010), and Jawbone Lake (2014).
Forgetting Zoe was a winner of the inaugural Jerwood Fiction Uncovered prize and was the Observer's 'Thriller of the Month'. Robinson was hailed as 'among the most impressive voices of Britain's younger generation' by the Irish Times, and the Irish Independent called Jawbone Lake 'a literary thriller of the highest order'.
Robinson is a post-graduate of Lancaster University, where he was awarded a Ph.D. in Creative Writing in 2006, and is a Mentor for The Literary Consultancy. He has appeared at literary festivals around the world, including La Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara, Mexico, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
Robinson is currently working on a feature-length screenplay, and a novel for teenagers.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 9, 2014
I'd love to say I loved it. Almost did. I think the main problem is that none of the characters are at all sympathetic. He's telling us to feel for them, rather than making it happen. Extraordinary sense of place and landscapes though. Overall, a yes, but a qualified one.
December 14, 2010
If Emma Donoghue's Room is focused relentlessly inwards on Jack, then Ray Robinson’s Forgetting Zoë faces outwards, reaching across vast landscapes and into the lives of not just its abductee, but also her mother and her captor. In 1999, Thurman Hayes takes his mother’s body to Canada, where she grew up; whilst there, he abducts ten-year-old Zoë Nielsen. For the next eight years, Hayes keeps her captive in his ranch in the Arizona desert and its underground bunker; by the time she escapes, the girl Zoë was is a distant memory.
Robinson’s prose and characterisation in this novel are exquisite. Here, for example, is Thurman reflecting on his father’s hands:
The precision of the detail there is so vivid, and the way it illustrates manual ability sliding so easily into violence. The opening section of Forgetting Zoë shows brilliantly how the young Thurman is damaged and becomes the monster we see in the later parts of the novel. Growing up in a violent household, with feelings of inadequacy because he can’t be the man his father wants him to be, Hayes’s feelings bubble over and he ends up with a confused attitude to women that leads him to�
Well, that’s another striking thing about Forgetting Zoë: some of the key events take place ‘off-stage�, so there are gaps in our knowledge of cause and effect. For example, we never see the actual abduction of Zoë; whilst it’s readily possible to construct a theory of why Hayes kidnaps her, we don’t know the full story; when we meet him and Zoë again after the abduction, they are changed characters; we have to work to reach them once again, which adds another layer of richness to the novel.
Another lacuna in the narrative is the bulk of Zoë’s captivity. In 1999, we see the beginnings of Zoë the ‘true Canadian girl of big sky, big moon, of big sunsets and clouds� slipping away in the bunker; but the contrast with her eighteen-year-old self when we jump forward to 2007 still carries quite an impact. The section covering the run-up to Zoë’s escape is perhaps the most powerful in the whole book, as Zoë is torn between her desire to escape and her reluctance to leave Hayes behind. With its uncertain passage of time, this section has a sickening ebb and flow, as one wonders if Zoë ever will gain her freedom � and the fact that we already know from the section title that she will does nothing to diminish that effect.
The title of Forgetting Zoë refers more than anything to Zoë forgetting herself. She starts to do that during her captivity, of course; but there’s a more positive interpretation of the title to be found at the end � that of being able to forget the past. As with Jack in Room, there is a sense of new beginnings for Zoë. And, as good a book as Room is, I think Forgetting Zoë may just be one of my reads of the year.
Robinson’s prose and characterisation in this novel are exquisite. Here, for example, is Thurman reflecting on his father’s hands:
…to Thurman the hands only ever spoke one word and that was hurt. They contained bones that had fractured many times and reset, broken against walls and furniture, the skulls of cattle, Mom, Thurman. Hands so masterful at gripping axes and shovels and carpentry tools and soldering irons, the stock of his rifle and shotgun. So useful for overturning a table with a single, effortless flick, for giving a backhand so fast it was heard before it was felt, for grabbing a fistful of hair and smashing heads into walls.
The precision of the detail there is so vivid, and the way it illustrates manual ability sliding so easily into violence. The opening section of Forgetting Zoë shows brilliantly how the young Thurman is damaged and becomes the monster we see in the later parts of the novel. Growing up in a violent household, with feelings of inadequacy because he can’t be the man his father wants him to be, Hayes’s feelings bubble over and he ends up with a confused attitude to women that leads him to�
Well, that’s another striking thing about Forgetting Zoë: some of the key events take place ‘off-stage�, so there are gaps in our knowledge of cause and effect. For example, we never see the actual abduction of Zoë; whilst it’s readily possible to construct a theory of why Hayes kidnaps her, we don’t know the full story; when we meet him and Zoë again after the abduction, they are changed characters; we have to work to reach them once again, which adds another layer of richness to the novel.
Another lacuna in the narrative is the bulk of Zoë’s captivity. In 1999, we see the beginnings of Zoë the ‘true Canadian girl of big sky, big moon, of big sunsets and clouds� slipping away in the bunker; but the contrast with her eighteen-year-old self when we jump forward to 2007 still carries quite an impact. The section covering the run-up to Zoë’s escape is perhaps the most powerful in the whole book, as Zoë is torn between her desire to escape and her reluctance to leave Hayes behind. With its uncertain passage of time, this section has a sickening ebb and flow, as one wonders if Zoë ever will gain her freedom � and the fact that we already know from the section title that she will does nothing to diminish that effect.
The title of Forgetting Zoë refers more than anything to Zoë forgetting herself. She starts to do that during her captivity, of course; but there’s a more positive interpretation of the title to be found at the end � that of being able to forget the past. As with Jack in Room, there is a sense of new beginnings for Zoë. And, as good a book as Room is, I think Forgetting Zoë may just be one of my reads of the year.
December 21, 2013
Thought this was a great story. 10-year-old Zoe is kidnapped by Thurman and kept prisoner in a disused nuclear bunker at his isolated Arizona farm. The characterisation is great as first of all you are introduced to Thurman as a child and his relationship with his parents (abusive on the part of his father) and then to Zoe and her relationship with her single mother Ingrid, living on an isolated island off the Canadian coast (which happens to be Thurman's mother's birthplace - hence the reason he goes there, only to end up snatching Zoe). There is no detail of the actual kidnapping nor much about Zoe's imprisonment and abuse, more as a sort of 'aside' from Zoe making her feelings known, as she finds herself drawn closer to her kidnapper. At the same time, we see how Ingrid and the rest of her community is reacting to Zoe's disappearance and the emotions that result. After being imprisoned for nearly eight years Zoe finally gets an opportunity to save herself, but how will she cope with the aftermath, having lived away from 'normal' society for so long? Superbly-told story, evocative, descriptive and full of pathos. Excellent read - 9/10.
January 30, 2016
This story, of the abduction of a ten year old girl (or rather, because the abduction is barely mentioned, "This story of the events leading up to the abduction of a ten year old girl, her incarceration, her escape, and the effect this all has on people") was a huge pleasure. The story was plenty enough to keep me interested, and the standard of writing was beautiful and poignant and incredibly real. There is a real sense of place about the two main locations - rendered by description - and even in a short novel you came to understand and empathise with several of the main characters, so well painted are they. I might potentially knock half a star off because I was so immersed in the rich language that I lost the thread of the plot in places (also not helped by the stylistic choice to separate out certain time periods and locations less clearly than they might have been) but it was a really involving and high-quality read that I will not soon forget.
February 24, 2018
Oh the detail. Amazing prose - almost every page has a phrase or sentence that bursts with rich vocabulary or inner revelations. And you begin thinking - how could this be? But it becomes believable and moreover, the only possible narrative.
An author of great skill
An author of great skill
October 25, 2014
NB - 4 stars is in appreciation for the skill involved in the writing. I did not 'really like it'.
This came out the same year that Room did. I read Room without too many difficulties because Emma Donoghue never steps outside of her child narrator. We only see what Jack sees and Jack's Ma makes sure to cover his eyes (and thus ours) from the true horror of their situation. With Forgetting Zoe, there is no such filter. First of all, we meet Thurman Hayes. It is a cliche to show how the once sweet child could become a monster yet films such as The Phantom Menace show just how hard it is to depict the development of evil convincingly. We are never in any doubt as to what he will become - the brief foreword describes the local reaction to what he'd done - nobody saw it coming but nobody showed any real surprise. Thurman was a loner - he had few real friends, his father loathed him and his mother ... well. His mother hadn't even wanted to be down in Arizona in the first place.
Over the years, Thurman grows stronger, grows angrier and meaner - his inability to relate to others inevitably leads to frustration; we watch wincing as he makes his first kill, hides the evidence, gets away with it. His parents fade, Thurman is left alone. And so he takes a trip up towards Canada, to his mother's place of birth. While there, he steals a ten year-old girl. Zoe is so very full of life - she is like Ariel, a child of air and water and wind. Robinson paints Zoe's world as almost too beautiful, the sky all-encompassing - a stark contrast to Thurman's claustrophobic childhood. Zoe's mother Ingrid is alone in the world and sometimes impatient but she loves her daughter - Zoe's vanishing jars - we do not see it, Ingrid does not believe it and we do not know what has happened until suddenly Robinson catapults us back to Thurman's world and suddenly everything is very dark.
There are contrasts to the myth of Demeter and Persephone as Zoe struggles in the dark world of Thurman's bunker while her mother withers and shrivels in the world above ground. I always loved that story as a child, the idea of the mother searching for her daughter - there are too many stories of angry fathers but mothers have a power all of their own. Here though we see the mundane reality of Ingrid's grief as she has to face the grinding horror of not knowing what has become of her baby. Behind it all is the long-gone betrayal by Zoe's lost father, her loneliness in the world - her life is as wintry as that of Demeter and her daughter cannot escape to comfort her.
For my full review:
This came out the same year that Room did. I read Room without too many difficulties because Emma Donoghue never steps outside of her child narrator. We only see what Jack sees and Jack's Ma makes sure to cover his eyes (and thus ours) from the true horror of their situation. With Forgetting Zoe, there is no such filter. First of all, we meet Thurman Hayes. It is a cliche to show how the once sweet child could become a monster yet films such as The Phantom Menace show just how hard it is to depict the development of evil convincingly. We are never in any doubt as to what he will become - the brief foreword describes the local reaction to what he'd done - nobody saw it coming but nobody showed any real surprise. Thurman was a loner - he had few real friends, his father loathed him and his mother ... well. His mother hadn't even wanted to be down in Arizona in the first place.
Over the years, Thurman grows stronger, grows angrier and meaner - his inability to relate to others inevitably leads to frustration; we watch wincing as he makes his first kill, hides the evidence, gets away with it. His parents fade, Thurman is left alone. And so he takes a trip up towards Canada, to his mother's place of birth. While there, he steals a ten year-old girl. Zoe is so very full of life - she is like Ariel, a child of air and water and wind. Robinson paints Zoe's world as almost too beautiful, the sky all-encompassing - a stark contrast to Thurman's claustrophobic childhood. Zoe's mother Ingrid is alone in the world and sometimes impatient but she loves her daughter - Zoe's vanishing jars - we do not see it, Ingrid does not believe it and we do not know what has happened until suddenly Robinson catapults us back to Thurman's world and suddenly everything is very dark.
There are contrasts to the myth of Demeter and Persephone as Zoe struggles in the dark world of Thurman's bunker while her mother withers and shrivels in the world above ground. I always loved that story as a child, the idea of the mother searching for her daughter - there are too many stories of angry fathers but mothers have a power all of their own. Here though we see the mundane reality of Ingrid's grief as she has to face the grinding horror of not knowing what has become of her baby. Behind it all is the long-gone betrayal by Zoe's lost father, her loneliness in the world - her life is as wintry as that of Demeter and her daughter cannot escape to comfort her.
For my full review:
January 29, 2016
The shape of this was not as I anticipated; the balance of the protagonists different. Ray Robinson chose not to explain quite a lot of things, others bits of information he drip-fed. Some sections were less than half a page. The whole of it was unique, deeply disturbing, understandable while horrific and hugely impressive as, once again, he inhabits the mind of a young and vulnerable female - as he so successfully did in 'Electricity' - and fills the reader's head with her experiences and emotions.
February 1, 2012
I thought this book was good, but strange. It jumped a lot between thurman and his parents, Zoe, and her mother after the kidnap.
I did enjoy it though, and found it really sad at times. I couldn't imagine ever going through this situation as the victim, or parent.
I did enjoy it though, and found it really sad at times. I couldn't imagine ever going through this situation as the victim, or parent.
August 25, 2012
Disturbing. Quick read.
September 23, 2013
Reviewed on
February 9, 2023
A horrifying and moving story of a young girl abducted and kept prisoner for 8 years and what she had to go through afterwards in order to 'live' again in The 'real' world.
February 21, 2024
Really good book. Read in less than a week as couldn't put it down
June 4, 2025
A little difficult to follow at times
August 5, 2011
i first picked this up in the library when i was trying to get some work done in there and started reading it mainly just to distract myself from being productive. the begining is pretty slow and seems to spend alot of time setting the scene before zoe is even taken, and it was about 150 pages in before i got properly invested into the story. i more or less finished the enitre second half of the book in one sitting and though the bulk of it is about a girl being captured and imprisoned, it was the bit after she escaped that got to me the most. it's not something i've ever really thought about before but it must be so difficult to build a new world away from that one person who has had you for so long and that was something that zoe found really hard in the novel. she loved thurman, had got used to his needs and ways and their world, and once she espcaped everything was different. her mother was dead, her 'home' the complete opposite to arizona where she had been for the last eight years and it was quite heartbreaking to read that it wasn't as easy as just picking up and carrying on.
definitely worth a read if you're interested in that sort of thing (which i weirdly am) and so believable considering its set in rural amerian cultures yet written by an english author.
definitely worth a read if you're interested in that sort of thing (which i weirdly am) and so believable considering its set in rural amerian cultures yet written by an english author.
June 3, 2021
A harrowing read. I picked this up from my digital library at random, because I like the narrator. I expected psycho thriller, and I got slow, introspective piece about Stockholm Syndrome. Still, it was pretty good, and the prose is lovely.
November 29, 2010
Zoe, a young girl abducted and held for eight years before escaping. All a bit werid for me but an ok read.
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