The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell

The mental institution that housed Euphemia Esme Lennox since she was 16 is closing down. After over 60 years being there, Esme has almost no relatives that can be called upon to help. The one person they find is her great-niece, Iris Lockheart. The problem is that Iris didn't even know Esme existed, so she has a double dilemma - what to do with her elderly great-aunt, and how can she find out why the family never mention her. This is the basis for Maggie O'Farrell's novel "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox". The phrase "once in a blue moon" comes to mind when I think about this book. I say that because it is only that often that one ...  Read the complete review

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is an adept and cleverly written novel which takes place over three main time periods and involves three main characters. This complex and interesting story begins in modern day Scotland, where a young, very modern woman named Iris is portrayed in her shop with an unsympathetic attitude and hints of an unstable family upbringing. O'Farrell then unravels the ties and loose ends of her history, and introduces the reader to her grandmother, Kitty, who suffers from severe Alzheimer's, and her secret great-aunt, Esme, who has been locked away in a mental institution since adolesence for reasons left unclear until the climatic ending. As the ...  Read the complete review

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a fictional account of a woman who spent 60 years in a mental institution for no better reason than she was rather eccentric and unconventional in a way which her 1930s conformist family considered to be unacceptable. It is made all the more poignant and relevant because it is now known that many men and more women actually suffered this fate in the first half of the twentieth century, being consigned to asylums by their families when young and then forgotten. The plight of many only really came into the public arena when such institutions were closed in favour of ...  Read the complete review