Category: Grade 12

The Disappearances, written by Emily Bain Murphy

A Summary of the Novel

“Maybe someday I will wake my daughter after a thunderstorm. Maybe… I will tell her a story I won’t have told anyone else – about a world that once withered a little more every seven years.” – Emily Bain Murphy, The Disappearances

In Juliet Quinn’s quaint hometown – Sterling – something is awry. Though it may appear quaint and genuine, a sinister secret veils the town; every seven years, something is lost. The ability to see the stars, the ability to see one’s own reflection, and, most recently, the ability to hear music and its swells have been stolen from the residents of Sterling. However, when the disappearances began, one girl’s abilities remained: Juliet’s, and she fled. Several years later, subsequent to the death of Juliet and the onset of World War II, Aila Quinn – Juliet’s daughter – returns to Sterling with no information of the town’s insidious deterioration and her mother’s role in it all. As Aila fumbles with the truth, her treacherous discoveries provoke chaos, conflict, and so much more.

Imagine a life in which you cannot gaze upon the starry sky. 

https://www.space.com/the-story-of-the-stars

Why The Disappearances Must Be Read

This book is such a dainty and beautiful read, and so it is imperative that it is read by all. This book taught me the importance of cherishing the beauty in life. Throughout the book, through imagery and detail, readers become aware that something was always amiss with Juliet. When she raised her daughter, she stood in the rain and smelled the flowers in the spring much too long, even when everyone else had left. However, toward the end of the book, readers are giddish and full of life as we realize the reason why she savoured each scent, each glance in the mirror, and so much more.

Although The Disappearances is a story about the stoutness of a girl amid the adversities she endures as she uncovers the truth of her mother’s hometown, the themes of this intricate and perilous novel are change, adaptability, and resilience. The main characters have been deprived of a life filled with happiness and youthfulness because of everything they have lost; however, they find the strength within themselves to adapt and then rise to challenge the curse itself. The style is quite reflective of the main character’s – Aila’s – emotions. It begins eerie and dire as Aila and her brother Miles are shoved on the imminent train to Sterling, and although glimmers of love and light shine throughout the story as Aila finds a beautiful boy with a beautiful smile, the predominant mood is quite sinister.

https://www.artmajeur.com/janzing/en/artworks/12543239/meadow-after-rain

How This Novel Came to Define Me

“Maybe someday I will wake my daughter after a thunderstorm. Maybe we will watch the sunrise together from the garden, drinking in air heady with rain and soil, and I will tell her a story I won’t have told anyone else…. the reason I stay to smell the flowers long after everyone else has gone.” – Emily Bain Murphy, The Disappearances

The Disappearances reflects myself, because subsequent to reading this novel I began smelling the flowers a little too long and gazing at the stars until the sun began to rise again; I am so grateful for this change in my life. I appreciate the life I have lived and will continue to savour each moment of it all, because sometimes there are adversities in life, which we must overcome. And, sometimes, we lose small parts of our life that we did not appreciate enough, and I do not want to be someone who could not appreciate something beautiful until it was gone.