The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

Maggie O’Farrell’s novel The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, published in 2006, is the author’s fourth novel and tackles the grim history of forced incarcerations of women and the devastating effects of family secrets. O’Farrell’s work often focuses on women trapped physically, emotionally, and psychologically by forces over which they have no control, and this novel is no exception. Through a twisted entanglement of three different perspectives, O’Farrell tells the story of not only Esme Lennox but also two other women whose destinies are inextricably linked to hers. O’Farrell was born in Northern Ireland and has lived in both Wales and Scotland, and uses her knowledge of these unique landscapes to create atmospheric settings for her novels. She published her debut novel After You’d Come in 2000 and has since published seven more novels, one memoir, and one children’s book. Her novel Hamnet won the Women’s Prize for Fiction in 2020 and her most recent novel The Marriage Portrait was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year in 2022.

This guide is based on the 2006 ebook edition published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Content Warning: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox includes child death, demonization of mental illness, a relationship between former stepsiblings, and the sexual assault of a teenage girl.

Plot Summary

Euphemia “Esme” Lennox lives with her mother, father, and older sister Kitty in British-occupied India during the 1930s. From an early age, Esme asserts that she will not conform to anyone’s expectations, and rebels against her parents’ authority at every turn. Kitty is eager to please her parents and become the favored daughter. When Esme and Kitty’s emotionally distant mother Ishbel gives birth to a son, Hugo, Esme becomes attached to him and relishes entertaining him under the watchful eye of Jamila, her nanny. Esme and Kitty’s parents take a trip and leave Esme behind as punishment for going shoeless outside; she enjoys her freedom and time alone with baby Hugo and Jamila. However, Hugo becomes ill and by nightfall, Esme is left holding Hugo’s dead body as Jamila languishes on a pallet nearby. The next morning, with Jamila also dead from typhoid, Esme locks herself inside the family library with Hugo’s lifeless body. When her parents and sister return several days later, they find Esme in a state of shock, still clutching Hugo. Vowing to never speak of what happened, the Lennoxes leave India for Scotland. During the journey, Esme struggles with the guilt of surviving the typhoid outbreak and her mother’s refusal to speak to her since Hugo’s death.

Esme and Kitty are shocked by the differences between the Scottish and Indian landscapes. Their grandmother judges their appearances and decides to transform them into “proper” ladies. Esme finds Scotland uninspiring. Her only solace is her love of piano, but her grandmother tells her to stop filling the house with noise. As she ages, Esme continues to challenge her parents and grandmother’s authority by refusing to cut her hair and maintain appearances. While Esme attends school, Ishbel and her mother-in-law prepare Kitty for marriage. Esme loves school, but due to her atypical height, unique appearance, and eccentric personality, she doesn’t get along with the other girls and they tease her mercilessly. She defends herself against a bully named Catriona, who then pranks Esme by switching Esme’s blazer for a smaller one. When Esme can’t figure out what happened, Kitty is perplexed by her sister’s confusion. On a trip to the shore, after being nearly drowned by a large wave, Esme hits her head on a rock. As she emerges dizzily from the water, for a moment, she sees an image of herself on the beach sitting with her family. She never tells anyone but Kitty about the vision. As the sisters become teenagers, Esme’s growing defiance and Kitty’s longing to find a husband drive a wedge between them; Kitty also resents Esme’s strange behavior.

Kitty develops feelings for a handsome young man named James Dalziel, called Jamie. When he shows interest in Esme, Kitty becomes embittered. Jamie pursues Esme, but since she wishes to travel the world and continue her education, she rebuffs his advances. On New Year’s Eve, the sisters attend a party, and Jamie dances with Esme as Kitty sits alone. Jamie twirls Esme into a closet and sexually assaults her. Esme doesn’t tell anyone what happened; she descends into shock and screams when her parents express concern. A doctor interviews Kitty, and she tells him about Esme’s blazer incident and her hallucination at the shore, and he diagnoses Esme with schizophrenia. Esme’s father and the doctor take her to Cauldstone psychiatric hospital, where they leave her screaming for help. Soon after, Kitty marries a man named Duncan Lockhart, but the couple has a loveless, sexless marriage. Kitty visits Esme at Cauldstone. The doctor presents Kitty with Esme’s infant son by Jamie, against Esme’s consent; Esme was only left with the baby’s green blanket. Kitty can tell that Jamie is the father. She agrees to adopt the baby and after conspiring with her father to keep the baby’s parentage a secret, the infant becomes Robert Lockhart. No one ever visits Esme again.

The narrative cuts to a woman named Iris Lockhart. She lives in present-day Edinburgh, Scotland, in a flat she inherited from her grandmother Kathleen (Kitty). Iris runs a vintage clothing shop and lives alone with her dog, and regularly visits her grandmother who has Alzheimer’s disease and lives in a nursing home. She is having an affair with a married man named Luke who promises to leave his wife, but she’s uncertain about having a committed relationship with him. Iris’s father died young, and her mother began seeing another man with a son named Alex. Iris and Alex developed romantic feelings for each other as teenagers. Though Alex eventually married another woman, he still has feelings for Iris, and they maintain a close relationship.

One day, a man named Peter Lasdun informs Iris that Euphemia Lennox (Esme), a resident at a nearby hospital called Cauldstone, is her great-aunt. The hospital is closing, and since Iris is Euphemia’s closest living relative, she is responsible for finding Euphemia a new home. Stunned by the news of a great-aunt she never knew existed, Iris visits Cauldstone to meet with Mr. Lasdun and see legal proof of her guardianship. Iris learns that Euphemia—Esme—has been a resident of Cauldstone for over 60 years and if Iris doesn’t take her home, Esme will end up in a hostel or nursing home. She meets Esme and feels an instant connection. Ignoring Alex’s pleas for her to walk away, Iris invites Esme to stay at her flat until other arrangements can be made. Esme collects her few belongings, but is devastated to find her treasured piece of green cloth (her baby’s green blanket) missing. After decades of abuse and neglect at Cauldstone, Esme struggles to remember the details of her life—but the longer she stays with Iris, the more she pieces things together. After seeing a picture of Iris’s father Robert (her son by Jamie), Esme realizes Kitty raised her baby—and that Iris is her granddaughter.

Alex stays with Iris as he doesn’t trust Esme and fears for Iris’s safety. He begs Iris to end things with Luke and be with him, but Iris refuses. The following day, Esme asks to visit her sister Kitty in the nursing home. On the way, Iris sees Luke with his pregnant wife. At the nursing home, Kitty talks to Esme as if they were in the past. Esme accuses Kitty of taking something from her and asks to be alone with her sister; Alex and Iris leave and fight about their relationship in the car. Having been left alone, Esme smothers Kitty with a pillow and pulls the emergency cord. Alex and Iris see the nursing home staff running inside; Iris runs back to Kitty’s room. She finds Esme seated calmly on the couch as the staff come to take her away.