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Fonda Rush asked this question about The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox:
This was a difficult read for me — no chapter breaks indicating that the scene has changed and the unfinished sentences and not knowing who or when or where until I read a little more. Basically, I got the jist of it. So, tell me if I'm right: Did Esme suffocate her sister, Kitty, with the cushion from the couch? And, is Alex more closely related to Iris than was originally thought? Perhaps Alex' dad is Esme's child?
Bridget Finklaire Esme smothers Kitty with the cushion, killing her - and has many motives! It was Kitty who told the doctors 2 things about the young Esme that only Ki…moreEsme smothers Kitty with the cushion, killing her - and has many motives! It was Kitty who told the doctors 2 things about the young Esme that only Kitty could have known about (thus sealing Esme’s fate of over 60 years locked up in a mental institution). Kitty also took Esme’s son (Robert, Iris’s father), and never visited Esme or had any sort of contact with her. She didn’t even write or respond to her letters when she found them. Kitty essentially deprived Esme of a life... BUT in my opinion, she didn’t kill her for that - Esme killed Kitty because she (Kitty) lied and refused to tell the truth about her (Esme’s) baby!

Right at the very end, Iris realises that Esme is in fact her grandmother (not her Great Aunt) - the mother of her late father (Robert). Iris looks like Esme’s mother, but her character is very similar to Esme’s - so there’s a bond between them, and Iris isn’t going to let Esme go - isn’t going to fail her or accuse or abandon her. Iris has realised Kitty’s deception and Esme’s suffering and is reaching out to Esme to hold onto her. She doesn’t want to lose her now she’s finally found her.

As for Alex and Iris, they are totally unrelated by blood! Just two kids who met because their respective parents met (one father and another the mother). Alex finally addresses the elephant in the room - that they both love each other and always have. There is no incest whatsoever at all. (less)
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The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
by Maggie O'Farrell (Goodreads Author)
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