The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

The novel cuts to Kitty, who narrates mixed-up memories from the past. She remembers a dress fitting for her and Esme with Mrs. MacPherson—Mrs. Mac. Esme makes jokes at the fittings, but her mother warns her to behave. She asks for a velvet dress, but her mother refuses: “You will not, […] you are the granddaughter of an advocate, not a saloon girl […] (82). When the girls’ dresses arrive, Kitty loves her flower-covered frock and takes care of it, but Esme despises her dress, claiming the seams aren’t straight. Ishbel tells Kitty that she must look after Esme, as her sister is irresponsible.

Kitty’s memories shift to life after marriage. She remembers wine being kept in delicate glass decanters, wedding gifts that are difficult to keep clean. Her husband only drinks at dinner and on the weekends.

Kitty’s memories shift to Esme refusing to cut her hair at her mother’s insistence. Her mother tries to use a bowl, but Esme smashes it on the floor. Ishbel tells her to leave for school, and that her father will deal with her when he returns home. Kitty doesn’t attend school as Ishbel is preparing her for marriage. She says she wants to take a secretarial course, but her father forbids it. After she marries, Kitty misses snuggling in bed with Esme. Kitty is shaken out of her memories, as her nurse enters her room; she suddenly feels cold.

Iris arrives at Cauldstone to collect Esme and take her to a hostel until the hospital can arrange a more permanent solution. Esme anxiously waits while an orderly searches for her box of personal items. When the box arrives, she frantically pilfers through the items—including a brown shoe, a blue-checked dress with missing buttons, a handkerchief monogrammed with the letter “E,” a tortoiseshell hair comb, and a wristwatch. However, Esme only wants a piece of green cloth that the hospital staff said they would keep for her. She keeps the comb but is distraught over the missing cloth; she waits as Iris signs the discharge forms.

Esme is disoriented by the car ride and the sight of Cauldstone fading in the distance. She confirms Iris’s name and takes in the scenery outside the car. She tells Iris that she was never once allowed to leave Cauldstone. Iris explains that the hostel is a temporary solution, but Esme doesn’t understand that she’s leaving Cauldstone forever.

Esme remembers when her grandmother took her and Kitty to the department store. Before they leave home, Esme plays Chopin on the piano, but as soon as her grandmother hears the music, she scolds Esme for filling the house with horrid sounds. Finding their cotton clothing deplorable, the girls’ grandmother takes them to Jenners of Princes Street, where a man in a top hat greets them. Esme finds the layers of clothing strange, and her grandmother is embarrassed by the sisters’ lack of fashion sense.

Back in the present, Iris arrives at the hostel and is unnerved by the feeling of the place. The hostel manager is rude and when Iris asks to see the room where Esme will stay, he laughs at her. A young, rough-looking girl enters the lobby, and the manager tells her to leave because they don’t allow needles at the moment; they argue loudly. Iris sees Esme covering her ears and facing the wall, so she quickly takes her outside.

Esme becomes enamored with all the buttons in the car, and pushes them repeatedly until Iris asks her to stop. Iris attempts to call Cauldstone but is frustrated by the phone line’s lack of help. Suddenly, Esme exits the car and begins walking through the Grassmarket. Iris finally reaches Cauldstone and leaves a message for someone to call her as soon as possible. She collects Esme, and Esme wonders why Iris is taking her back to Cauldstone when she promised to take her away.

Esme decides to refuse to leave the car like she did the first time she was brought to Cauldstone. However, when Iris asks Esme to get out, Esme relents, sensing the girl has done the best she could. Overwhelmed by the sensation of returning, Esme tries to block out her thoughts and make herself invisible. Iris speaks with the night watchman, who refuses to admit them. Iris says something harsh to the watchman, and gathers Esme to leave.

Kitty remembers that no one in the family spoke of Hugo after his death, except Esme. One day at lunch, the girls’ grandmother slams her hand on the table and forbids Esme from speaking of him again. Esme sinks into depression and spends most of her days staring out the window; she talks about Hugo at night, though Kitty asks her to stop. Kitty wonders how her mother dealt with the loss of previous children; she cryptically thinks, “—and so I took hers. I did. And no one ever worked it out, so I suppose—” (105). Esme’s behavior worsens, and her parents feel helpless. One day, Esme returns home from school upset and disheveled, claiming she has the wrong blazer. Esme says she can’t stop thinking about being in the family library for three days with Hugo’s body. Kitty considers telling their mother about Esme’s behavior. She suddenly recalls her son Robert carrying Iris on his shoulders, and warning him not to bump into the chandelier. She then remembers Esme throwing a glass tumbler on the floor and screaming that she will not go and that she hates her father.

Esme is given the former maid’s room of Kitty’s (currently Iris’s) home, and recalls the room being green. Iris calls Alex to tell him that she’s temporarily housing Esme. Incredulous, Alex tells Iris that Esme is not her responsibility and that she needs to get rid of her. Iris explains that she couldn’t leave Esme at the hostel after all she’d been through. After the call ends, Iris remembers the first time she met Alex.

The novel cuts to five-year-old Iris, whose mother Sadie brings her boyfriend George to live with them, along with his son Alex. Iris hides under the table, anxious to meet them. She equates Alex to the angels she saw on church walls in Italy: “Alexander has the same wide blue gaze, the curling yellow hair, the delicate fingers” (115). Alex is shy, so Iris takes him to see tadpoles, and they become inseparable. Eventually, Sadie and George separate, and Iris is devastated by the loss of Alex. Two weeks later, Alex returns to Iris, claiming he hates his new stepmother—thus beginning a pattern of Alex running away and escaping to Iris’s house. George eventually sends Alex to a boarding school in the Scottish Highlands, but Alex still returns to Iris. Iris and Alex try to run away together, but the police catch them and bring them home. Sadie and George decide it would be best if Alex attends school in Edinburgh and enjoys holidays with Sadie and Iris. One night as teenagers, Iris and Alex are left alone as Sadie leaves for a trip. While watching a movie, Alex takes Iris’s hand and touches his heart, and they feel a romantic connection for the first time.

Back in the present, Esme wanders Iris’s flat (specifically, the old servant’s quarters), trying to remember the names of the family’s maids. Iris, still uneasy about sharing her flat with Esme, awakens and remembers moving her knives to her room overnight. She hears a scratching sound and following it to Esme’s door, knocks and enters the room; Esme barricaded the door overnight. The room is in order, but Esme still looks fearful of her situation. At breakfast, Esme recognizes the cutlery she used as a child. Iris tells Esme about her shop and previous string of unsatisfying jobs. Esme bluntly asks Iris if she lives alone and if she has lovers. Iris says she has a partner, and Esme asks if she loves him. The younger confesses that she’s loved some partners but not all of them. Esme is surprised that Iris’s (and by extension, her own) family doesn’t care that she’s unmarried. Esme’s living situation can’t be resolved until Monday, so Iris asks her what she wants to do. She suggests that they visit Kitty, but Esme wants to go to the sea.

While at the beach, Esme remembers when her family vacationed in Berwick. The novel cuts to the past, as her grandmother takes the family to the seaside town to attend fancy parties and learn manners. Esme hates these parties, but enjoys playing in the water while her family sits on the beach. As the waves crash over her head, Esme sees her father motioning for her to be careful, but she ignores him. Suddenly, a large wave forces her down, and she smashes her head against a rock. As she emerges from the water, shaken from the injury, she looks at the beach and sees herself sitting with her family. It is a strange vision, and she doesn’t know what to make of it. As she squints her eyes and looks again, her doppelgänger disappears. In the present, Esme is uncertain if she remembers how to swim. She takes off her shoes and knows Iris is watching her.

Iris watches Esme walk near the water. Luke calls, frantic to speak with her. He plans to tell his wife Gina about the affair, but Iris says she doesn’t want him to leave his wife for her. Luke asks to come over, but Iris refuses since Esme is there. He angrily tells her that she’s foolish for taking in Esme. Iris hangs up as she sees Esme walk into the water, fully clothed; however, Esme only wades up to her ankles and marvels at the pattern of the waves.

Over lunch, Iris reminisces about visiting the pool near the café as a child. The pool is gone now, but Esme says the family never came because her mother didn’t approve of public swimming. As Iris helps Esme butter her potato, she notices crisscrossed scars on her arm, but Esme moves her arm while repressing a memory of India. Iris asks Esme what happened to her at Cauldstone, but Esme can’t find the words and fills her mouth with food to avoid talking. The younger tells Esme that her father, Robert, died at 31 after having an allergic reaction to medication in the hospital. When Iris says his birthday is the following week on the 28 of that month, Esme fixates on the numbers and watches Iris pour a glass of sparkling water, mesmerized by the sight and sound of the bubbles. Struggling to stay in control of her mind, Esme leaves the table and stares out at the beach.