Book Review | The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

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Rating

5 stars – this haunting novel is a real page turner

Description

In the middle of tending to the everyday business at her vintage-clothing shop and sidestepping her married boyfriend’s attempts at commitment, Iris Lockhart receives a stunning phone call: Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital—where she has been locked away for more than sixty-one years.

Why did you choose to read this book?

I’ve read O’Farrell’s previous novels and enjoyed two out of the three – so I wasn’t sure whether to read this one – however it was the only one that jumped out at me on a swap list so I thought I’d give it a try.

The Book Review

I picked up The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox expecting for it to last me a few days – and literally couldn’t put it down! There are no chapters – the voices of each of the characters intermingle across short sections – making it really easy to pick up and read for 5 minutes at a time – or longer periods. The story is not linear; it’s like a jigsaw puzzle, with the reader travelling back and forth between present day Scotland, India in the 1930s and Scotland in the 1930s, gradually putting together the pieces until the full picture is revealed in all its shocking glory in the final pages.

Without revealing too much information and spoiling the plot – this is a tale of Esme Lennox – a woman who has quite literally ‘vanished’. She was sectioned at the young age of 16 and purposely forgotten by her family. When the Hospital she has lived in for 61 years closes down the authorities contact her great-niece Iris who finds herself torn between letting the State find Esme somewhere else to live and understanding more about her great-aunt and the reason for her incarceration.

O’Farrell uses compelling prose and a fractured structure to draw the reader in and then reveal the clues which when pieced together reveal a shocking secret.

Make sure this is one of the books you read in 2008.

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