I stayed up all night to finish this book in one sitting. Honestly I can't remember the last time that happened. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox is gripping, heartbreaking and infuriating. And yet there is a real gentleness in the way the story is told.
.
Esme Lennox is a spirited, unconventional Scottish girl born in 1930s India. She questions and doesn't adhere to the rules society places on girls. She isn't even really rebellious, just innocently baffled at the expectations. When she's six, something traumatic happens in her family that everyone wants to shove under the carpet but she wants to talk about. Being silenced makes her retreat into her mind at times, marking her off as unstable. After a few years, her family moves back to Scotland and her unconventional ways make her an outcast at school. Her parents and high society conservative grandmother are always exasperated with her. One thing leads to another and she finds herself committed to a mental asylum. Sixty one years later her grand-niece Iris is contacted and told the asylum is shutting down and if she wants, she can take Esme home. Here Esme's story starts unfolding in flashbacks.
.
Maggie O'Farrell's writing is absolutely brilliant, the tension keeps building making this into a real page-turner. There is heartbreak, betrayal and family secrets. The story is based on a lot of research the author did about mental asylums and women who were declared insane or 'hysterical' for whatever reasons.
.
I really enjoyed this book but the ending left me dissatisfied. There were a lot of questions left unanswered or things which just didn't make sense to me. I don't want to give spoilers so I won't say more.
.
I can't wait to read more of O'Farrell's books, especially her memoir I Am, I Am, I Am which I've heard great things about.
.
.
.
#maggieofarrell #bookstagram #bookish #bookworm #thevanishingactofesmelennox #mentalhealth #bookblogger #Booklover #bookish #readingwomenchallenge #bookishlife #booksbooksbooks #bookporn #bookrec #unitedbookstagram #bookstagramUAE #bookstagramista #booksofinstagram #booksofig #tambookreviews