SOLVED. Children's/ YA novel circa 2005, two sisters are living without mother (may have disappeared or died?), cover is black and pink with a gothic illustration of a house. [s]

[Sophia]

Hi all,

There was a book I loved as a kid that I read around 2005, which I believe was newly published when I read it. The tone was subtly creepy, dark, and unsettling. The protagonist was a young girl living with her older sister in the absence of their mom, I believe the circumstances of the mom's disappearance are a bit of a mystery. The cover is an illustration of their house in black ink with some pink details. The house has a Gothic, Victorian, spooky look to it—when I picture it, I'm imagining something like the house from the video game Gone Home.

There's frequent reference in the book to the cartoon Mighty Mouse, somehow in connection to the girls' mother. I think their mom might have had a sweatshirt or other belonging with the character on it and the girl becomes attached to it.

I remember one passage where the girl is describing how her sister wakes her up for school on time without setting an alarm clock. The sister just imagines a clock in her head before bed, sets the time to when she wants to wake up, and always wakes up at that exact minute.

These are the only details I can recall, sorry there's so little to go on here. I know I loved this book, but the most vivid thing I can remember is just the unsettling, odd, melancholic tone. I'd be so happy if anyone is able to help me identify it!

[Rainbowheart]

Does anything on the Young person living on their own in hiding thread look familiar?

[Becca]

How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson has a cover similar to what you describe:

and it has the clock thing:

Sophie has this thing — it's like she's a human alarm clock. I don't know how she discovered she had it, but it is one of her greatest talents. She calls it "setting her head," and this is how it works. Every night, before she falls asleep, my sister will ask, "What time should I set my head for, Margaret?"
"Seven, Sophie," I always say, and she then proceeds to set her head for seven o'clock. According to Sophie, if you want to wake up at seven, picture the number seven on the face of a giant clock in the middle of the desert. ("It has to be a desert, Margaret, or it doesn't work," she once told me.) Watch that clock until the little hand hits seven and the big hand hits twelve, setting off a huge, gonging alarm. Let the alarm gong seven times and the next morning, according to my sister, "Your eyes will just pop open at the right time exactly!"

...but I couldn't find any references to Mighty Mouse, and I'm not sure if the mom goes missing.
I couldn't find a Google Books preview but there's a copy on archive.org - https://archive.org/details/howtodisa...

It might be worth browsing the Children's and Young Adult Books With Abandoned Children Living Alone list if it's not that, or if you're possibly mixing two books together.

[Sophia]

Becca wrote: "How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson has a cover similar to what you describe:

and it h..."

YES, this is it!!! Thank you so much! I'm probably misremembering those other details since I was pretty young when I read it, but this is definitely the book!

[Sophia]

SOLVED thanks to Becca! The book is How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson.