Not Just Desserts

Tunbridge Wells Book Club

Book Reviews - The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O\'Farrell

This book was enjoyed and appreciated by all the book club members. The main theme was well-researched and provoked a long, interesting discussion.

Everyone felt that the charcters were believable and the storyline was imaginative and intriguing, especially all the 'sub plots'. The start was very evocative of the secret garden and the transition from the lush Indian landscape to the stark Scottish granite was a clever reflection of the changes in Esme's personal circumstances.

The only bone of contention was Maggie O'Farrell's narrative style which a few members of the group found rather irritating and hard to follow, whilst other members found it refreshingly different and enticing. Everyone agreed that it was a book that needed to be read over a short period of time, probably due to the lack of chapters and the paragraph structure.

Overall, a very well received book