
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
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Narrated by:
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Anne Flosnik
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By:
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Maggie O'Farrell
About this listen
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.Listeners also enjoyed...
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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)
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I wouldn’t recommend
- By j b lacy on 12-01-24
By: Maggie O'Farrell
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The Boy Who Lost His Spark
- By: Maggie O'Farrell, Daniela Jaglenka Terrazzini - illustrator
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 1 hr and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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When Jem and his family first move to a small town, he struggles with his new life. The unhappier he grows, the stranger things become—mischief and chaos seem to bloom everywhere. His sister Verity is sure it is the work of a “nouka,” an ancient creature that lives deep down inside the hill above the town—a creature forged from the sparks of a long-extinct volcano. Jem is adamant that there is no such thing. But it is through the magic and mayhem of this small mystical creature that Jem finally finds a sense of belonging, a sense of home—and once again discovers a spark of magic.
By: Maggie O'Farrell, and others
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The Distance Between Us
- A Novel
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Susie Riddell
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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On a cold February afternoon, Stella catches sight of a man she hasn't seen for many years, but instantly recognises. Or thinks she does. At the same moment on the other side of the globe, in the middle of a crowd of Chinese New Year revellers, Jake realises that things are becoming dangerous. They know nothing of one another's existence, but both Stella and Jake flee their lives: Jake in search of a place so remote it doesn't appear on any map, and Stella for a destination in Scotland, the significance of which only her sister, Nina, will understand.
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Not my favorite Maggie O’Farrell novel…
- By serene ghazi on 03-05-24
By: Maggie O'Farrell
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When the Stammer Came to Stay
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Quiet Bea keeps her shoes polished, folds her clothes every night, and alphabetizes her books. Her rambunctious sister Min wears torn trousers and wades into ponds to collect frogspawn. Above all, Min is a storyteller who loves to chat with everyone. But one day she chokes, and the words forming in her mouth never make it out. Words suddenly feel dangerous, unwieldy. Min is no longer herself—not with some strange creature stealing her words, a creature not even her sister can see. But that doesn’t matter, because Bea sees Min.
By: Maggie O'Farrell
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The Marriage Portrait
- A Novel
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Genevieve Gaunt, Maggie O'Farrell
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and to devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding, Lucrezia is thrust into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf. Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must make her way in a court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed.
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If You Love Alternate Histories, Get This
- By Jim on 09-26-22
By: Maggie O'Farrell
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Hamnet
- By: Maggie O'Farrell
- Narrated by: Ell Potter
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Agnes is a wild creature who walks her family’s land with a falcon on her glove and is known throughout the countryside for her unusual gifts as a healer, understanding plants and potions better than she does people. Once she settles with her husband on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, she becomes a fiercely protective mother and a steadfast, centrifugal force in the life of her young husband, whose career on the London stage is taking off when his beloved young son succumbs to sudden fever.
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A masterpiece
- By Molly-o on 08-03-20
By: Maggie O'Farrell
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Jezebel
- A Novel
- By: Megan Barnard
- Narrated by: Perdita Weeks
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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When Jezebel learns she can't be a king like her father simply because she’s a girl, she vows never to become someone’s decorative wife, nameless and lost to history. At fifteen she’s married off, despite her protests, to Prince Ahab of Israel. There, she does what she must to gain power and remake the dry and distant kingdom in the image of her beloved, prosperous seaside homeland of Tyre, beginning by building temples to the gods she grew up worshipping. As her initiatives usher in an era of prosperity for Israel, her new subjects love her, and her name rings through the land.
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I came for Perdita and stayed for the story...
- By John A P on 09-09-23
By: Megan Barnard
What listeners say about The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gwendolyn L. Mallory
- 09-20-12
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
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2 people found this helpful
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- Nemo
- 12-02-21
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!
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2 people found this helpful
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- rose
- 06-28-21
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!.
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2 people found this helpful
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- V. Kezios
- 08-18-21
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.
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-22-21
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
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- Dana Kramer
- 10-12-21
Who’s child
Too criptic. Hard to follow. There are wAy too many things left unexplained. Good idea for a story though
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- Kindle Customer
- 06-13-22
Bad Ending
jumped around too much, hard time following plot. reader didn't communicate characters well.Bad ending
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- Wendy Hill
- 01-16-22
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.
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- Jazzin' in Jersey
- 07-13-22
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
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- Elizabeth F. Cork
- 09-24-12
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.
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