The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’ Farrell

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell
paperback 245 pages
published by Headline Review in 2006
ISBN 13: 9780156033671

Type: {Impress Your Friends Read: notable; prize-winner or all around intelligent crowd conversation piece}
Rating: {I’m Lovin’ It: Very entertaining!}

Why You’re Reading It:

• Tales with elements of truth intrigue you
• You enjoy learning from your fiction
• Books like Atonement and movies like Sophie’s Choice move you
• Unique plots with twists at the end are up your alley

What I Thought:

While reading The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, I could not help continually thinking how thankful I am that I am a woman in today’s society (no matter what grievances we still have) and not of times past. Times when a woman could be put into an insane asylum (yes, read that insane asylum) for doing outrageous acts such as leaving her husband, crying too often after losing a child, not washing the dishes and sweeping the floors, wanting no marital relations with your husband or -heaven forbid- too much. Your wife, daughter, sister not to your liking? Send her away, by all means. And then leave her there. Forever. Ah, the good old days. Best part is, I am not talking about the Dark Ages, I am talking about the 1940′s.

Switching between past and present while telling the story from three viewpoints, Esme, Kitty, and Iris, O’Farrell tells us the story of what happened to Esme Lennox. Esme Lennox, Kitty’s younger sister, who would just not act in accordance with the wishes of her parents. Who did not want to go to parties and wear gloves and get married as a teenager. Esme who would run down a hall instead of walk, who would rather read than play dress up. Who had the misfortune of being born in the wrong time to an unforgiving family.Sixty-one years after she is locked up in an asylum (at 16 years-old) Esme Lennox is released to the care of her great-niece. As we watch this happen we also learn her story and the heartbreaking pieces of the puzzle that some who were involved will never have all the pieces of.

A sub story along the way is that of Iris and her “brother” Alex. Though the mystery of what happened to Esme revealed itself to me before I got to the answers, I didn’t mind as the point of how horrifying Esme’s life had been was still clear to me. Do I wish there was more of a mystery, sure – the author could have tightened up the story and if I hadn’t guessed what was coming around every corner, I would have liked the book a lot more. What I absolutely did not like, however, was that the love story was happening between Iris and Alex. While the O’Farrell was insistent upon revealing over and over that they were not, in fact, brother and sister, she continued to have them call each other by those terms and continued to have Iris feel that the relationship between them was wrong (and to be hidden). I could not wrap my head around it and, not being a fan if incest, very much wish O’Farrell would have either excluded this part or written it a bit more clearly. It was not enough to ruin the book, but came close in my opinion. Despite these aspects, I easily spent the evening with the TV turned off and my nose in the book.

This book can be read in a day. I recommend that you invest those hours to it… read it as a tribute to the women who suffered unduly, an education in what has been, and thank your lucky stars that times have changed.

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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
by Maggie Ofarrell