THE ART OF VANISHING

A lyrical and unsettling account of a woman chafing at the confines of marriage and the high cost of craving freedom and adventure.

Ten days before Christmas in 1939, a 25-year-old woman walked out of her home in Massachusetts with thirty dollars and a notebook, leaving behind her husband and her entire life. She was never seen or heard from again. A child protegee, Barbara Newhall Follett had written two novels about young girls running away into the wild, which begged the question: had she planned her own vanishing act?

Seventy-five years later, Laura Smith became obsessed by Barbara's story. Determined to find out what had happened, she set out to trace the events leading up to her strange disappearance. Her investigation uncovered a story of restlessness, adventure, wilderness, desperation and betrayal. Instead of answers, she found herself confronting ever more difficult and chilling questions--not just about Barbara's motives and disappearance, but about her own life and marriage. What does it mean to be a wife and daughter? Can one ever reconcile the tension between intimacy and freedom? Is it possible to live a fulfilling life without constraints?

This is the story of two women: one gone, the other searching. Part forensic investigation, part memoir, The Art of Vanishing challenges us to consider our most conflicted desires. What are we really looking for in marriage and in life? Is commitment a golden noose? Can we escape from the confining drudgery of responsibility? Searingly honest and written with incredible passion and elegance, The Art of Vanishing will challenge you to rethink your own most intimate decisions and may just up end your life.

Laura Smith's journalism and writing has appeared inThe New York Times, Slate, the Guardian, and Mother Jones among others. She lives in the Bay Area and completed The Art of Vanishing on a fellowship at Banff.