The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74  ·  rating details  ·  10,365 ratings  ·  1,988 reviews
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.

Iris’s grandmother Kitty always...more
Paperback, 277 pages
Published May 17th 2007 by Headline Review (first published August 28th 2006)
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Community Reviews

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Jim
Maggie O'Farrell's new novel asks the question: What do you do if the local psychiactric hospital calls to tell you you've got a great aunt you never knew you had?

Iris Lockhart doesn't want to bring a lady who may or may not be crazy into her house, but with her parents gone and her grandmother, Kitty, suffering from alzheimers disease, she hasn't got much family left and Aunt Esme throws everything Iris thinks she knows into question.

It's a compelling story told from a number of angles. The s...more
Anna
Oct 29, 2007 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: Anyone who likes not so good endings.
This book just ends. That's it. You have to really use your imagination to understand what happens. The story was good, I just would like it to have ended different. And there were a couple of subplots that did not play out, even though the author could have done something with them.
Laura
Apr 10, 2013 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: People looking for a quick read with twisted family dynamics
Man, I love to read. Opening a book by an author you've never read is like having a plane ticket to an unknown destination. You don't know where you're going, or exactly when you'll arrive. You just have to trust the pilot to get you there in one piece, hopefully with a smile on your face. Maggie O'Farrell doesn't disappoint, let me just tell you.

I don't think I'd have ever added this book if I paid lots of attention to the title or the cover. Both make me think of a frilly-froo-froo type read a...more
Sonia Gomes
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Lindsay
The human brain is a tricky thing and O'Farrell has provided readers with a fascinating look into the psyche of three women in "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox." Iris learns of her great aunt's existence when the mental institution in which Esme has been living for the past 60 years contacts her about its upcoming closure. Her inability to go on living as though this woman never existed begins the unraveling of a dark family mystery that few could ever imagine possible.

Although female "hysteria...more
Myra
May 07, 2008 Myra rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition
Recommended to Myra by: Tara
I borrowed this book from my friend Tara, and was it ever a great recommendation!

The very nature of this novel makes it a hard one to do a review on without giving away the best parts of the book. As the story unfolds that surrounds Esme, Iris, and Kitty, the words and feelings have a way of touching the reader quite deeply. As I was making my way through this novel, there came a point where the story held me captive and pushed my emotions to the front, like nothing I've read in quite some time....more
Colleen
Locked up decades ago for such outlandish behavior as dancing, Esme Lennox is finally released when her asylum is shut down. Esme is thrust into the care of her grand-niece Iris, a modern young women whose struggle to overcome her "unnatural" love for her step-brother gives her more in common with Esme than either could imagine. As Iris tries to unravel the mystery of Esme's existence, she learns more (though ultimately not enough) about her hidden family history, information she never obtained...more
Lisa McLemon
Nov 12, 2007 Lisa McLemon rated it 5 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone
I'm having trouble summing up this book. It's very complex, it's horrifying and it's very, very sad.

Iris Lockhart starts getting phone calls one day from a mental institution named Cauldstone claiming that she is listed as the contact for one Esme Lennox - the sister of Iris' grandmother, Katherine (Kitty). Iris insists there must be a mistake, because Katherine never, ever mentioned having a sister. The paperwork proves it, however, and Iris is pretty much forced to take in this old woman who h...more
Jeanette
so this crazy flight attendant told me about this book and i got it from the book swap im a member of.

it took me a while to get into it because it's told from different peoples points of view- one being a schizophrenic twelve year old, one a 70 year old with alzheimers, and a 20 something year old.

basically the jest is that iris, the 20something gets a call saying that she needs to pick up her aunt from a psychiatric hospital which is closing down. iris has no knowledge of this aunt and doesnt...more
Nicole
My favorite book so far this year, and I have a feeling it will be one of the top three once 2009 comes to an end. A great book!
Interesting, intriguing, sad, suspenseful, shocking are some of the words I would use to describe this book...and the best part is that it all came perfectly together at the end. Definitely going to look into reading more by this author!
bookczuk
It hinges on the reasons why Esme was incarcerated: she apparently was a spirited girl, who would rather read than pursue a husband. The ultimate sin that committed her was seemingly dancing in a negligee of her mother's, and becoming hysterical when caught by her parents doing so. Esme is "taken away" for a rest, but ends up being hidden away for much of the rest of her life. As the story unfolds, family secrets, betrayals, and the general stuff of human lives comes out.

In the meantime, there i...more
Pamela
This is one of those stories that has all the components of greatness--a well-concieved, interesting trajectory, mystery, betrayal, tragedy, paralleling societal and family injustice and feminist themes. There are also some moments of lovely poetry in O'Farrell's writing style. I should have loved it, and I certainly gobbled it up, reading it much more voraciously than I usually read novels. But this novel is simply not fully formed, and therefore has left a number of reviewers unsatisfied. One...more
Chak
Jan 02, 2009 Chak rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who enjoyed "She's Come Undone"
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Linda Davidson
Excellent, well written book about mental illness and how one well to do family dealt with is (or rather didn't) by putting their daughter in a mental hospital, where she was left foto 62 years with no contact from the family. Powerful, gripping, written in an unusual style in which the author changed back and forth from character to character and from time period to time period and always kept the reader guessing. Even the ending keep you guessing and wondering... Book to stay with you...
Roisin
Jan 08, 2008 Roisin rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: young women who may have started to take their independence for granted
I've just read this book in less than 24 hours on a work day which I think says a lot about it. Completely un-put-down-able [if there is such a word].
The story is obviously moving, this was never going to be a big surprise. I even knew the ending [due to an over-zealous review and accompanying feature when the hardback first came out] but this didn't spoil my enjoyment in anyway.
The unfinished sentences should get irritating but they just don't, they just make you more unable to put the book dow...more
Noel
Esme Lennox as a young girl reminded me of myself. Rebellious, independent, marching to a different drummer, running when she should be walking, fidgiting when she was expected to sit still, and in general not conforming to the strict social norms imposed by her mother. Events lead to Esme being put in an insane asylum supposedly for a brief period of time, and winds up staying there for 60 years, until the place closes and she's put in contact with her great niece, Iris. Iris had never heard of...more
Sasha
Outstanding book! Wanted to give it five stars but I was torn about the ending. On one hand it seemed to fit the book and on the other hand I felt like I wanted more.

This book reminds us just how many things in our lives we take for granted. This was a fascinating novel and I highly recommend it.
Julie
This is a fascinating book. I charged right through it and highly recommend it. The only thing keeping it from a 5 star rating was the ending. Whenever I have to read an ending several times and am still not 100% sure what happened, I just can't call it a perfect book.
Jennifer
Started this book Friday evening and couldn't put it down. Beautifully written, haunting story line and completely engrossing. Told from the perspective of three women it took me some time to understand what was going on (one part is from the perspective of an Alzheimer's patient so her memories are quite erratic) but once I got the rhythm of the book I was completely riveted. I've read that some people didn't like the ending but I thought it was perfect. Books don't often surprise me with their...more
Carol
Feb 09, 2011 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2011
I ordered this book from the AWESOME Cuyahoga County Public Library after reading Lesley's review. I read it last night...couldn't put it down! It is not too many books that will keep me up after 10 on a school night. I liked this on many levels. The interesting twists of the story line, the commentary on treatment of women in the 20th century with regards to disposability and issues of mental health. Highly recommend.
Joy
This story of two women--Iris and her great-aunt Esme, is heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. At the beginning of the novel, Iris's story is not as compelling as her aunt's, but it picks up. This novel will make the women who read it grateful to live in a time where they have more independence and a chance to express themselves. And, if you have visited Edinburgh, Scotland, you will find yourself transported there again through the author's wonderful description of the city.
Karen Hansen
I'll admit it, I can be swayed by quote recommendations from authors that I admire. I picked up Maggie O'Farrell's novel, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, because the jacket had quotes from Audrey Niffenegger and Carolyn Parkhurst, two authors that I love.

O'Farrell's novel centers around Iris, a vintage shop owner, who receives a call from a mental institution regarding her great-aunt Esme. The institution is closing down and Esme, a patient for over sixty years, is about to be put in a home. I...more
Daniel Buitrago
Otra lectura de las que no es posible despegarse. Tres mujeres que confluyen en la actualidad agarradas al hilo de su pasado.

Accedo poco a poco al de Esme, la mayor, perdida en la oscuridad, condenada de por vida a la reclusión. Fue libre en la India e intentó mantener su voluntad en Escocia. No lo consiguió. Y todo por no ajustarse al orden de los convencionalismos en los años treinta.

Entro en la memoria fragmentada de Kitty, su hermana, quien sí se acomodaba a la perfección a los cánones y no...more
Carinya Kappler
This is a novel with unusual staying power. I had previously read this book and so it was with pleasure and anticipation that I read it again. I remember thinking after my first reading that the whole sordid cover up, deception and betrayal of Esme by her family would not have been an uncommon event in that stiff upper lip era of family honour and fear of public disgrace.
In our modern age of full disclosure, transparency, equal rights for women and closure of institutionalized care for people wi...more
Lisa
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox would be more aptly named the Disappearance of Esme Lennox as the words vanishing act suggest a parlor trick; the ability to disappear at will. Esme Lennox did not vanish. She was vanquished.

When the story opens, Esme and her sister Kitty are British citizens living in the colonies in India during Victorian times. After a string of losses in childbirth, their mother, unable to cope, arranges for the family to return to their home in Scotland. Kitty and Esme have

...more
Laurel Bradley
A haunting family drama.

In the middle of an average work day, Iris Lockhart receives a phone call that changes her life forever. She is informed that Esme Lennox, a great aunt she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital--a mental institute where she's been locked up for sixty-one years, five months and four days. Iris is shocked. Her grandmother always claimed to be an only child. If Iris claims Esme and takes her into her home, what other secrets will Esme reveal?

I'm not...more
Tara
Reading The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennoxgives a taste of what it must be like to have Alzheimer. Memories come disjointed and often have holes just at that crucial moment, but the visuals created come with a clarity that we reserve for that which happened just yesterday. Maggie O'Farrell tells the story of Esme Lennox and her sister, of Iris and her 'adopted' brother, of the horrors of living in a society where the rules are stacked against you and the punishments are sever. And she does it with...more
Cerys
Feb 11, 2012 Cerys rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: 2008
I loved the way the story was told through Esme's memories, Kitty's ramblings and from Iris's modern day point of view. Esme's story is heartbreaking and, unfortunately, only too possible. My heart went out to her, locked up for over 60 years for nothing more than being different and the fact that she was unable to tell anyone she'd been raped. I also felt sorry for Kitty, seeing it as an opportunity to escape but then having to live not only with the memories of what she'd done to her sister bu...more
Katherine
It took me a very long time to get into this book. Although the plot is quite interesting in overview, there was something about this book that really made it difficult to grab my attention. Despite this barrier, the "Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" held all the makings of a good read. A mystery, surrounded by tragedy, swallowed by betrayal. O'Farrell's style of writing was both eloquent and interesting, at times, as she was very descriptive of each new scene and character. However, the plotline p...more
Karen J
This is the January selection for my Book Group, WOW...Women of Words. This book is a page-turner that I almost finished in one sitting. The writing is intense, engaging and many-sided. The voices of the characters are compelling because they often indirectly tell what has happened by "not telling" or "not finishing" a thought.

There is a wavery kind of parallel in the stories of Iris, the young main character, and the older woman, Esme. Is Iris, who is two generations removed from Esme, the per...more
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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (Hardcover)
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Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox (Paperback)

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Maggie O'Farrell (born 1972, Coleraine Northern Ireland) is a British author of contemporary fiction, who features in Waterstones' 25 Authors for the Future. It is possible to identify several common themes in her novels - the relationship between sisters is one, another is loss and the psychological impact of those losses on the lives of her characters.
More about Maggie O'Farrell...
The Hand That First Held Mine After You'd Gone The Distance Between Us My Lover's Lover Instructions for a Heatwave

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“We are all, Esme decides, just vessels through which identities pass: we are lent features, gestures, habits, then we hand them on. Nothing is our own. We begin in the world as anagrams of our antecedents.” 26 people liked it
“It is a terrible thing to want something you cannot have. It takes you over. I couldn't think straight because of it. There was no one else, I realized, whom I could possibly tell.” 9 people liked it
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