The characters in these stories operate in a world in which their voices
are not heard, and are navigating prickly paths, doing what they can to
survive. An attorney, mother of twin babies, is destabilized when her
husband is away, and comes to doubt she has a right to her own house; a
young artist thinks she knows the score when she moves from LA to New
York, only to be forced to look past stereotypes to discover what really
matters; a documentary filmmaker, rattled by her recent divorce, visits
her oldest childhood friend, who is several years into debilitating
dementia, and realizes how quickly shared history can vanish; a woman in
her twenties who feels on the outside of everything forms a manipulative
friendship with a mother aggrieved by her daughter's recent death; and
an office manager approaching middle age is taken aback when she
realizes she isn't central in the lives of her young male employees,
whom she always thought adored her. These five women's lives speak to
the difficulty of honing a strong identity in a culture that
consistently devalues women.
Sophisticated and bright with promise...these stories elucidate
incredibly difficult-to-articulate topics such as jealousy, self-hatred,
unlikely connection and friendship.... If a writer's job is to make the
unseen visible, the stories in VANISHING are flashlights, illuminating
the subtle, enormous tragedies we humans encounter every
day.--Marie-Helene Bertino, author of 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas
Praise for Cai Emmons' novels
Gripping. Brings home the power and terror of maternal love. --O
Magazine
Emmons...has an eye for the grating intimacy of small-town life and a
fine ear for suggestive metaphors.... Unusual and memorable. --The
Economist
Lovely writing... Emmons' emphasis is on her characters, and she draws
them well. --Seattle Times
With family relations as twisted as a French braid and language as vivid
as a platinum dye job, Emmons' potent novel features magnetic characters
and complex and compelling secrets. mdash;Booklist
A gift of a book, an affecting story of violence and
forgiveness.--Bookpage
Accomplished playwright and filmmaker Emmons tests chilly waters in this
ambitious, unsettling debut.--Publishers Weekly
Gorgeous writing throughout makes for an unusually affecting and
memorable debut. --Kirkus Reviews
The author
Cai Emmons is the author of the novels His Mother's Son (which won an
Oregon Book Award), The Stylist, and her newest, Weather Woman (fall
2018), about a meteorologist who discovers she has the power to change
the weather. Emmons was formerly a playwright and screenwriter; her
short fiction has appeared in such publications as TriQuarterly,
Narrative, and Arts and Culture, among others. She has taught filmmaking
at the University of Southern California and Orange Coast College, and
creative writing and screenwriting at the University of Oregon.
