The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

By: Maggie O'Farrell

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Iris Lockhart is busy tending to the everyday business of her vintage clothing shop and her complicated love affairs when she receives a stunning phone call. Her great-aunt Esme, whom she never even knew existed, is being released from a psychiatric hospital where she has been locked away for over 60 years.

Esme has been labeled harmless, sane enough to coexist with the rest of the world. But why has her family never mentioned her, and what is the secret or her virtually wiped-out past? If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit?

Weaving Esme's tragic story together with Iris's modern dilemmas, O'Farrell's intricate cross-generational tale of family secrets, lost lives, and the complex longings of women will haunt readers long past its final page.

©2006 Maggie O'Farrell (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

• Nominee, 2008 Audie Award, Fiction

"[A]n intricate, eloquent novel of family malice, longings, and betrayal....O'Farrell maintains a high level of tension throughout, and the conclusion is devastating." (Publishers Weekly)
"O'Farrell's fourth novel brilliantly illustrates her talent for gradually revealing her characters' inner lives....A gripping read with superbly crafted scenes that will blaze in the reader's memory long after the novel is returned to the shelf." (Booklist)

Disappointing ending

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I enjoyed the storyline and the narration was quite good, but found the end very disappointing.

What was most disappointing about Maggie O'Farrell’s story?

The end was quite abrupt

What aspect of Anne Flosnik’s performance would you have changed?

Nothing

Could you see The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No

It's OK

I recently discovered Maggie O'Farrell and became an instant fan. That said, this isn't her best work. It's all over the place with the story and the characters. It feels like it needed another two drafts to make it right.

The biggest problem for me was the inner dialogue towards the end, the unfinished sentences. It's hard to make that kind of device work and harder still to make it work when you use it too often.

Not a fan of the narrator. You are constantly yanked out of the story because she doesn't pause between characters. You find yourself on alert for the switch between the different narratives. Combine that with those rambling unfinished sentences and you don't know where you are.

Don't let it put you off O'Farrell. She is a huge talent!

Oh My............

Interesting story, compelling characters. Narration was well done with good inflection and character distinction. The actual writing took a bit getting used to as flashbacks were interwoven throughout the book. I do recommend this recording/nove!.

Interesting but confusing

It could be the difference between reading and listening but the character shifts mid chapter were confusing. The story is heavy…the ending a bit surprising and heavy. The author kept me interested in wanting to know how it ended and I did enjoy parts of it but not one that left me missing the characters or bummed it was over.

We are all a little mad

Excellent book about women and their place in the world through a lens of "mental illness". Very beautifully narrated

Who’s child

Too criptic. Hard to follow. There are wAy too many things left unexplained. Good idea for a story though

Bad Ending

jumped around too much, hard time following plot. reader didn't communicate characters well.Bad ending

Riveting

Brilliant story and performed exquisitely. I simultaneously anxious to know what would happen next and longed for the book to go on and on.

Horrible

This book is all drugged out very poorly edited and at the very end you don’t even really know what happened it jumps around from one topic to another the narration was pretty good but it was that times difficult to follow very disappointing but I don’t even waste your time

Scarier than Stephen King

Where does The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's first-rate

What does Anne Flosnik bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I've never read anything quite like it

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was horrifying but with supernatural monsters. The monsters are all too human. The family dynamics are frightening but very real.

Any additional comments?

If you can stand the emotional trauma, it's a book that shouldn't be missed.