Yesterday I started reading The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. The only reason I didn’t finish it yesterday was because I made myself be a mother. This book is incredible. Seriously. It’s been on my reading list for a while, I’m not sure where I heard about it.

Esme Lennox is nearly 80 years old when the psychiatric home she has been living in is closed. Her great niece Iris is contacted to take care of her, but Iris has never heard of her. The circumstances surrounding her incarceration and of Iris’s life are unfolded masterfully, weaving past and present together in a way that makes you feel a part of the story. Maggie O’Farrell’s language is beautiful, captivating, and haunting.

Just a warning for your reading-life balance, there are no chapters. So have a bookmark ready if life may require you to put this down.