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This was my first novel by Maggie O'Farrell and I immediately became a life fan. Talk about family drama...
Set in a dark time in history, 1930's, where women had little control over their lives, we are introduced to Esme who has been confined to an insane asylum. Esme doesn't conform to what a woman of those times is supposed to be according to her conservative parents who then and thus, lock her away for life.
We are next introduced to a young woman, Iris, in present day, who also beats to her o ...more
Set in a dark time in history, 1930's, where women had little control over their lives, we are introduced to Esme who has been confined to an insane asylum. Esme doesn't conform to what a woman of those times is supposed to be according to her conservative parents who then and thus, lock her away for life.
We are next introduced to a young woman, Iris, in present day, who also beats to her o ...more
4/B
In The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, we meet up with Iris when she receives word that a long lost sister of her grandmother who had been living in a mental hospital is now her responsibility. Who is Esme Lennox and why has Iris never heard of her before? The book weaves back and forth between the present day as Iris deals with Esme and her own complicated life, and the past when we see the world through Esme’s eyes. O’Farrell chooses to tell Esme’s story by purposefully obscuring it and then rev
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This was a fascinating novel of social morality, victorian asylums, and how families hurt and fail one another in a myriad of ways. The writing is lovely, the pace is perfect, and the story is haunting. Great on #audio, the narrator is amazing.
Really good read. Maggie O'Farrell is really impressive as a writer here, so that you are figuring things out the whole time as you read, without too heavy a hand giving clues and without ever straight-up telling some of the mysteries inside the book.
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This was a book club book> i think it was one of the best book we read! I loved how everything was not spelled out exactly and involved some interpretation. It gave us a great look of what the society was like at the turn of the century. I think Iris's story was also very interesting. What a great book!
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A little difficult to get started on this one, took me a while, but once I got through the first couple pages, it turned into quite a disturbing yet provocative and sad story.
Aug 07, 2008
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Jun 22, 2017
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Aug 13, 2018
Astrid Lim
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Dec 28, 2020
Elizabeth Weltin
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Oct 01, 2023
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