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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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Feb 11, 2011 Jim rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 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 scenes describing Esme's youth in colonial India and subsequent move to Edinburgh are hauntingly evocative. Kitty's epigrammatic ramblings, stylized to convey her spotty memory, feel a bit like literary hocus-pocus. The most curious aspect of the novel is the author's decision not to organize the material into chapters. Thus, the novel, though brief, unfolds in one long progression of modular scenes. This arrangement compresses the story's framing device so that the scenes set in contemporary Edinburgh feel as if the events have been squeezed into a single week and, at times, reads like a screenplay.

I don't think it gives anything away to say that if the past is going to jarringly intrude on the present, as it does for Kitty, there ought to be a reasonable explanation as to how this was able to happen. Once Esme's vanishing has been explained, we're no closer to knowing how the hospital knew to contact Iris. It's a minor gaffe, but it erodes the reader's confidence in the plot. The flap copy calls The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox a modern gothic, but its not an apt descriptor and misses the mark by a wide margin.

That said, it's a strong story capably told with a cast of characters who bring a ton of baggage to the table. Esme, is a bit of a cipher, but O'Farrell describes her past with generous detail and shows how easy it was to institutionalize women who didn't fit into society's view of what a proper young lady should be without beating the reader over the head with it.

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10 likes · like · see review

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.

27 likes · like · see review

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

Shelves: fis-list, library, download-library, hf, 13-wishes, a-lucky-one

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 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 about women who love to shop and/or care about fashion. Which is pretty much the UN-me. Quoting now from page one, so this is no spoiler:

Let us begin with two girls at a dance. ... Or perhaps not. Perhaps it begins earlier, before the party, before they dressed in their new finery, before the candles were lit, before the sand was sprinkled on the boards, before the year whose end they are celebrating began. Who knows? Either way it ends at a grille covering a window with each square exactly two thumbnails wide.

I hope the author or publisher reads this review. For the love of God, please, please release another edition of this book with a new cover: a close-up of that window with an eye pressed to it, peering out. Just an eye. In the corner. And watch the sales skyrocket. The cover of the book I read, which is a girl looking down at her fancy blue dress barely tiptoes around the fringes of what the book is about. You want to draw a reader who will appreciate this book? Change the cover, and boom.

In this book, you will float through the minds of several people. Two of them can be quite disjointed in their thoughts. She puts you right there. You will experience everything. This isn't exactly an easy read. It's a fast read, but you can't help but cringe at times as the horribleness begins to unfold. Still, it's hard to put down. You'll skip from past to present, and from one character to the next, without any chapter breaks at all. She simply skips a few lines and presents you with another scene. Loved the audio performance too, by Anne Flosnik.

Highly recommended. Let me know what you think of this one. This would be a great book for a group discussion.

ETA: Be careful you don't read too many reviews prior to the book. The less you know, the better. I really just wanted to try and convince people to look beyond the horrid cover and title. (less)

17 likes · like · see review

Jan 26, 2009 Sonia Gomes rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: good-but-not-fantastic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Esmee Lennox incarcerated in a mental asylum at the age of sixteen for sixty years only because she did not fit in with the time, besides she is a convenient scapegoat for the mother, in whose absence the little brother Hugo dies and Esmee remains with the little dead brother for 3 days alone in a house with no one else. Esmee has a wild sort of beauty that attracts Jamie, Esmee is not so attracted to him, she loves reading, studying but is just curious about sex. The person who really is in lov...more

12 likes · like · see review

Sep 06, 2008 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

15 likes · like · see review

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

6 likes · like · see review

Jan 12, 2008 Colleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

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

7 likes · like · see review

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

9 likes · like · see review

Nov 29, 2008 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

2 likes · like · see review

Feb 07, 2009 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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!

9 likes · like · see review

Aug 18, 2009 bookczuk rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, somewhat-disappointing

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

5 likes · like · see review

Jun 13, 2011 Pamela rated it 3 of 5 stars

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 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 reviewer mentioned the perplexing choices of the three main characters and that is a very valid point--they don't read with authenticity, but rather as strange contradictions made to power the story through. If these characters continually seem to act against the personalities described and presented, we need to understand why. A reader traverses this novel eagerly, but ultimately monumental events occur in an ephemeral landscape. We never really get a grip on why Esme's life occurs the way it does--why are her parents so unyielding? Why does her sister never capitulate? And as someone mentions why were we never given a glimpse of a real life where at least one person intervenes or cares about the plight of another? The events are presented, but they are given to us bare, without perpective or resonance within the psyches of the characters.

If I were editing this novel, I'd have asked the author to flesh out the intentionally vague suggestions she plops around (feeling almost like gimmicks rather than authentic plot devices), not because I need to be told/shown, but because the characters ring thin when the final denouement occurs (as a result of the lack of insights/motivations we are given for actions throughout the story). Another reviewer mentions that she wishes the author had chosen another option for Esme, and I have to agree--although it is not, of course, my story. We move along the plot yearning for the clear need for redemption, and instead we are given the most obtuse suggestion of violence. If Esme's choice was such, give us the satisfaction of something tangible--a thought, an outsider's thought, a view ... SOMETHING!

The ending IS perplexing, and I couldn't be sure what had happened--although I have a good idea. By contrast one can examine a classically-told, but similar(ish) story like The Yellow Wallpaper, where we are not left reading and re-reading words for clarification that never really comes, and where the story is satisfying in it's completion. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox feels like an unclosed circle.

In summary, the story/idea is very compelling. The three separate voices of the main characters are distinct and interesting. There are some really lovely moments of prose and some edgy and boundary-defying relationships and even some questioning of what we consider "normal." However too many jarring events are thrown at the reader without properly contextualizing and(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 02, 2009 Chak rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who enjoyed "She's Come Undone"

Shelves: literary-snackers, fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Maggie O'Farrell came up with an excellent premise, so the book had a great plot. Also, the writing was good and fairly restrained, which I also appreciate. However, I think she really cheated the two main characters and therefore, the book fell a little short for me. Esme was set up to be this rebel. She rebelled against society totally -- there was no aspect of it she would conform to. She was incredibly strong-willed (almost unbelievably strong-willed, given the time frame of the book), amazi...more Maggie O'Farrell came up with an excellent premise, so the book had a great plot. Also, the writing was good and fairly restrained, which I also appreciate. However, I think she really cheated the two main characters and therefore, the book fell a little short for me. Esme was set up to be this rebel. She rebelled against society totally -- there was no aspect of it she would conform to. She was incredibly strong-willed (almost unbelievably strong-willed, given the time frame of the book), amazingly smart (top of her class at boarding school) as well as a little larger-than-life strong, but yet she couldn't run away forever? There was no evidence she so much as liked her living family (except her sister) or cared for their approval in the least, so why was she always there? Her character was written to escape, yet it never happened. There was always this sort of artificial docility placed upon her to keep her in the story.

Also, Esme's set of horrors were just relentless. Nowhere in her life, even with all those servants, did she ever find a kindred spirit. Nowhere, even at the girl's school, was there anyone even remotely like her, even slightly a loner, even a tiny bit apart from the norm. The ENTIRE WORLD was all conformingly perfect, except for her and her fellow inmates at the asylum. No one liked her, no one wanted to help her, ever. Not a parent, not a family member, not a teacher, not a friend, not a doctor, no one! I think that sort of cheating of reality is too much of a sacrifice to make to add drama to the story.

Iris was one-dimensional. She was merely a woman torn between two men, Mr. Bad and Mr. Worse. She was always loathe to make a decision, any decision and just rode a few crests of circumstance to move the story forward.

Kitty was was weak with a capital W.

Ugh. I found the characters (all of them, actually) just too unlikeable and their experience too contrived to enjoy the book. In this way, it reminded me of "She's Come Undone" which was also relentless in it's attempt to pull the reader's heartstrings. However, that book had a little more depth.

In summation, DEPRESSING, but I liked the plot and the writing and felt cheated by the handling of the characters.(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Linda Davidson rated it 4 of 5 stars

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...

2 likes · like · see review

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

5 likes · like · see review

Oct 17, 2010 Noel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: to-be-read, fast-easy-read, lit-and-fiction, received-through-paperbackswap

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

2 likes · like · see review

Nov 28, 2008 Sasha rated it 4 of 5 stars

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.

4 likes · like · see review

Sep 05, 2011 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

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.

1 like · like · see review

Feb 28, 2009 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: my_favorites

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

4 likes · like · see review

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.

1 like · like · see review

Dec 05, 2007 Joy rated it 4 of 5 stars

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.

1 like · like · see review

May 10, 2013 Karen Hansen rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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May 09, 2013 Daniel Buitrago rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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May 03, 2013 Carinya Kappler rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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Nov 06, 2012 Lisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mj-book-club-august-2012-july-2013

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

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Jul 18, 2012 Laurel Bradley rated it 5 of 5 stars

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

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May 07, 2012 Tara rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

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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

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Jan 30, 2012 Katherine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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

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Jan 20, 2012 Karen J rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-wow-women-of-words

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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About Maggie O'Farrell

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.

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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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