LAST NIGHT IN MONTREAL by Emily St. John Mandel

Seven year old Lilia had not seen her father in years; then one night, he comes to her Montreal home in the dead of night, takes her in his arms and disappears with her.  They become wanderers, never staying anywhere for long.   In hotel bedside bibles, Lilia writes "I am not missing. Stop searching for me. I wish to remain vanishing. I don't want to go home."
Christopher Graydon is the private detective hired by Lilia's mother to find her.  He becomes obsessed with the case to the point of ignoring his own daughter,  Michaela who is Lilia's age.  Eli lives in New York and is working on his graduate thesis; the topic is dying languages.  Lilia's latest stop was with Eli.  One day, Lilia goes out for the coffee and never returns.

Lilia ends up in Montreal and meets Michaela who then sends Eli a postcard to come and get her. But Michaela refuses to tell Eli exactly where Lilia is until he fills in the blanks about her own father and his relationship with Lilia.

I really enjoyed this book.  The narrative is told from a number of viewpoints - each adding yet another layer to a rich and complex story.  The characters felt real - each with their virtues and each with their flaws.  Discussion about Eli's graduate thesis - on dying languages was fascinating and made me want to research this topic further.  The author nailed the feeling of Montreal in the winter.  This is not a long book, but I suspect I will remember it for a long time.  I am eager to read other works by this author.