The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

By Maggie O'Farrell,

Book cover of The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Book description

From the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of HAMNET and I AM, I AM, I AM, comes an intense, breathtakingly accomplished story of a woman's life stolen, and reclaimed.

'Unputdownable' Ali Smith

Edinburgh in the 1930s. The Lennox family is having trouble with its youngest daughter. Esme is outspoken, unconventional, and…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

From the outset, I was hooked by the book blurb: the story of someone completely erased from a family’s history.

As someone who loves genealogy research, I know from experience that whole life stories can be wiped out or rewritten in a family. In the book, Esme reappears after a lifetime in an institution, arriving in the life of her great niece, who was unaware she existed.

I loved the interwoven timescales as the author seamlessly takes us from the 1930s to the modern day. It is a beautifully written story of tangled lives and huge emotional trauma. A story…

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A Particular Man by Lesley Glaister,

This book is a literary historical novel. It is set in Britain immediately after World War II, when people – gay, straight, young, and old - are struggling to get back on track with their lives, including their love lives. Because of the turmoil of the times, the number of…

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