Charlie Bell’s picture is in the paper. He is a popular young man with a successful hedge fund and London is full of money. Then in one evening, everything changes. When his wife Leila threatens to leave him, a journey begins in which they are both forced to discover what they believe in. The plot sweeps the reader from glitzy pre-crisis London, through the Midsummer Night’s Dream of rural Spain and then back again to the grittier London of The Hillford Estate and a charitable drop-in centre for kids.
Throughout the book, the inner stories reflect the outer one of the financial crisis. As grand illusions fade, Disappear questions the connection between couples, between family members, even between the helper and the helped. Ultimately it looks at our very sense of belonging and asks: is it possible simply to disappear from your own life?
In the climactic final scenes, set in the heat and sensual chaos of Notting Hill Carnival, each of the main characters will live out their answer.
For Exposure:
- 'A mesmerizing novel...Stevenson has an incredible talent
- she writes like a very old soul, with an exquisitely-tuned sensitivity to sin, guilt and sexual obsession' Jay McInerney
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- 'Stevenson captures especially well the thump in the loins and imagination of lust, the excitement of first contact, and agony of sexual withdrawal. It is architecturally expansive, well paced and frequently wise' Literary Review
Hardback
Published 04/03/2010