Rating: 
Summary: A stunning drama -- Very highly recommended
Review: In 1989 two best friends, Esther and Gemma, leave England to seek exotic backpacking adventure in India. Ester defines herself a woman of excitement, a lover of movement with no regard to consequences. Gemma is her opposite with her reticence and muddleheaded anxiety. Although Gemma's stolid presence counterbalances Ester's impulsivity, she still does not dissuade Ester's perchance for impetuous danger seeking. Fate, kismet, or perhaps destiny intervenes as Ester tosses a tour book into the air, planning their destination by the page that falls open.Ester and Emma plan to travel to Agun Mazir, Orissa, the strange little shrine of a Sufi mystic and martyr whom spontaneously combusted in 1947. The shrine has become a holy sight for pilgrims seeking miracles. Disregarding cautionary voices, for this is the time of great unrest over Salman Rushdie's novel SATANIC VERSES, Ester and Emma embark upon a train ride Calcutta on the beginning leg of their journey. Between their bickering and petty complaints lie the truths they don't speak. Meeting veteran backpacker Coral on the train heightens the unspoken tension of their relationship as Gemma draws close to her even as Ester pulls away. Then foreboding promises of transformation and combustion lead to a stunning loss that reaches beyond the grave. Debut author Katy Gardner pens a haunting tale of loss of innocence, friendship, and tragedy in LOSING GEMMA. The gripping tone and powerful drama will weave a spell over readers as layers peal away revealing the "truth" beneath the every day illusions. Careful revelation of motivations, secrets and jealousies expose their vulnerabilities and underscore the distance between people regardless of how close they profess to be. A poignant and powerfully penned work, LOSING GEMMA provides a stunning look at this promising author. Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: riveting tale of tragedy and friendship in India
Review: Like a Greek tragedy, the first sentence of the book tells the reader that Gemma is dead. The rest of the book makes the reader concentrate on how and why that happened. Esther and Gemma are childhood best friends from a little English town. They go on holiday in India when they are 23. The story is told by Esther, who has always been thinner, prettier and more popular than sweet trusting Gemma. There has been a more recent rift between the two, in that gemma flunked her exams and didn't go on to university, while Esther did. Once off the plane, they meet an Australian woman named Coral whom Gemma likes but Esther doesn't. Is Esther just jealous? Or is there something really nutty about Coral? This book is mesmerizing. Any female will think back on her closest friendship and wonder if she was an Esther or a Gemma -- and if she was in India with that friend, what would they do in that situation? I highly recommend this excellent debut, and I look forward to the author's next work!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Losing Gemma is a novel about two friends who go backpacking throught India. Gemma and friend Ester are looking for a good time but instead find Coarl an Austailian gypsie, who leads them on an adventure that will change both thier lives. Katy Gardner uses vivid descriptions so you feel as though you are really there. Losing Gemma is an excellent first novel for Gardner. Highly reccomended.
Rating: 
Summary: Promising start, disappointing end
Review: Losing Gemma is a novel based on an interesting premise. What if two twentysomething girls from England headed to India for a little fun and enlightenment? What if the trip that should have been little more than a memorable adventure turned into the holiday from hell with tragic consequences? The author does several things right with this novel. Her descriptions of the stress, fear and difficulty associated with travel in a third world country are frighteningly accurate. Travelling "on the cheap" can be anything but glamorous, and the author's descriptions of the sights, smells and sounds of the place put you right there with the characters. The characters however are where some of my difficulties with this novel begin. Neither Esther, our beautiful, impetuous narrator, or Gemma her chubby, bookish friend are well developed enough to garner much sympathy from the reader. With out giving anything away I found some of their actions,(especially Gemma's decision to ignore an impending disaster), totally unbeleivable, and given the outcome, almost sociopathic. The horrific event which is crucial to the plot, is treated in such an offhand and dismissive way by the author and her characters as to be offensive to the reader. As other readers have noted, I saw the ending coming a mile away, even though much of the suspense leading up to it was well done. Overall not a bad book, but one that could have been so much better. 3.5 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Promising start, disappointing end
Review: Losing Gemma is a novel based on an interesting premise. What if two twentysomething girls from England headed to India for a little fun and enlightenment? What if the trip that should have been little more than a memorable adventure turned into the holiday from hell with tragic consequences? The author does several things right with this novel. Her descriptions of the stress, fear and difficulty associated with travel in a third world country are frighteningly accurate. Travelling "on the cheap" can be anything but glamorous, and the author's descriptions of the sights, smells and sounds of the place put you right there with the characters. The characters however are where some of my difficulties with this novel begin. Neither Esther, our beautiful, impetuous narrator, or Gemma her chubby, bookish friend are well developed enough to garner much sympathy from the reader. With out giving anything away I found some of their actions,(especially Gemma's decision to ignore an impending disaster), totally unbeleivable, and given the outcome, almost sociopathic. The horrific event which is crucial to the plot, is treated in such an offhand and dismissive way by the author and her characters as to be offensive to the reader. As other readers have noted, I saw the ending coming a mile away, even though much of the suspense leading up to it was well done. Overall not a bad book, but one that could have been so much better. 3.5 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: The Many Ways to Lose a Friend
Review: Losing Gemma is an interesting tale, an examination of the many ways we can "lose" a friend. Esther, our narrator, and her "best friend," Gemma, are fresh from university and touring around India in the late 80s. Their adventures take a tragic turn when Gemma dies under quite mysterious circumstances. Esther blames herself for losing her friend. After Gemma's death, the novel jumps forward several years. Esther is still coping with what happened when a series of freakish coincidences lead her to the understand the truth of what happened in India and what happened to her friendship with Gemma, how she really "lost" her friend. The coincidences are a bit clunky and the author uses some unconvincing devices to get into Gemma's head in the middle of what otherwise would be a first person narrative, but other than that, I thought this novel was quite well done. The writing is excellent and it does make you think about the many ways you can lose a friend.
Rating:
Summary: The Many Ways to Lose a Friend
Review: Losing Gemma is an interesting tale, an examination of the many ways we can "lose" a friend. Esther, our narrator, and her "best friend," Gemma, are fresh from university and touring around India in the late 80s. Their adventures take a tragic turn when Gemma dies under quite mysterious circumstances. Esther blames herself for losing her friend. After Gemma's death, the novel jumps forward several years. Esther is still coping with what happened when a series of freakish coincidences lead her to the understand the truth of what happened in India and what happened to her friendship with Gemma, how she really "lost" her friend. The coincidences are a bit clunky and the author uses some unconvincing devices to get into Gemma's head in the middle of what otherwise would be a first person narrative, but other than that, I thought this novel was quite well done. The writing is excellent and it does make you think about the many ways you can lose a friend.
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLE...COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!!!!!!!!!
Review: My life as I know it was completely put on hold until I finished this book. Set aside at bit of time, this is not the kind of story you can just casually read, you'll want to know every morsel until it is done.
The story of Esther and Gemma is beyond fasinating. I don't mean to be so vague but I just don't want to give anything away. Since you've looked this far at the book...just buy it and read it, you wont be sorry!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor poor poor editing.
Review: Someone else wrote that the book starts off well and ends poorly. I have no idea if that's true. I read the first page and returned it. Allow me to quote the last sentence of the first page. "And it wall all my fault." Maybe I'm not up-to-date in my slang, but I doubt it. Call me a snob, blame the printer, but I refuse to read a book that is so poorly edited. "L" and "S" aren't even near each other on the keyboard and "S" is certainly not "LL." "Losing Gemma" just lost my sale.
Rating:
Summary: Poor poor poor editing.
Review: Someone else wrote that the book starts off well and ends poorly. I have no idea if that's true. I read the first page and returned it. Allow me to quote the last sentence of the first page. "And it wall all my fault." Maybe I'm not up-to-date in my slang, but I doubt it. Call me a snob, blame the printer, but I refuse to read a book that is so poorly edited. "L" and "S" aren't even near each other on the keyboard and "S" is certainly not "LL." "Losing Gemma" just lost my sale.
| 
