Esme Lennox is a dreamy, bookish young woman, the kind of girl who stares and listens and won’t flirt with boys. And then, in the space of a moment, she disappears. Years later, a stunning phone call breaks the silence at Iris Lockhart’s vintage shop: her great-aunt Esme, whom she never knew existed, is being released from Cauldstone Hospital after sixty-one years. Iris’s grandmother Kitty always claimed to be an only child, but Esme’s papers prove she is Kitty’s sister, and Iris can see the shadow of her dead father in her face. Still, she’s basically a stranger, a family member never mentioned by the family, sure to bring life-altering secrets when she leaves the ward. If Iris takes her in, what dangerous truths might she inherit?
MAGGIE O’FARRELL was born in Northern Ireland and grew up in Wales and Scotland. She is the author of six novels, including After You’d Gone (winner of the Betty Trask Award), The Distance Between Us (winner of the Somerset Maugham Award), The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and The Hand That First Held Mine (winner of the Costa Novel Award). She lives in Edinburgh.
WEB: MAGGIEOFARRELL.COM
Read an Excerpt
From all her family -- her and Kitty and Hugo and all the other babies and her parents -- from all of them, there is only this girl. She is the only one left. They have all narrowed down to this black-haired girl sitting on the sand, who has no idea that her hands and her eyes and the tilt of her head and the fall of her hair belong to Esme's mother. 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.
Reading Group Guide
Questions for Discussion
1. Some of the earliest scenes Esme shares with the reader are those from her childhood in India. What do they reveal about Esme, her family, and their place in time and society?
2. Alex and Luke are both married men in love with Iris. Do you think Iris really loves either one of them? Why or why not?
3. O'Farrell's novel is steeped in secrets. As the story of Esme and Kitty unfolds simultaneously with the story of Iris and Alex, O'Farrell offers clues about the true nature of these relationships. How do these two stories relate to each other? How does it affect your feelings about the characters?
4. Why do you think Esme was sent to Cauldstone, and never released to go home? Do you think she is mentally unbalanced? Give examples from the book to support your opinion.
5. Esme is both taken aback and fascinated by many things that Iris shows and tells her. What does Esme find so remarkable about Iris? How are Iris and Esme similar? How are they different?
6. As Iris discovers more about Cauldstone, she discovers some of the more outrageous reasons that women were sent to "mad houses" like it. According to the novel's descriptions of that time period, what do you think drove this trend? Do you think changes have occurred in our view and treatment of women who don't "behave"? Why or why not?
7. O'Farrell creates distinct voices for the three main characters and shifts between their points of view to tell the story. Why do you think the author made this choice? What do the characteristics of these different voices reveal about Iris, Esme, and Kitty? How does this technique affect your reading experience?
8. How will the revelation of Esme and Kitty's secret change Iris's life? Do you think it will alter her relationships with Luke and Alex?
9. What do you make of the ending? What do you imagine will happen to these characters after the last page is turned? Has the author satisfied your interest in these characters?
Further Reading:The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman; Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys; Good Behaviour by Molly Keane; Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
