"Once I began listening to Jesse Vilinksy's excellent narration I was immediately swept up in the story." – Anne Bogel, Modern Ms. Darcy
From Alison Espach, author of the New York Times Editor's Choice novel The Adults, comes a dazzlingly unconventional love story for readers of Ask Again, Yes and Tell the Wolves I'm Home.
For much of her life, Sally Holt has been mystified by the things her older sister, Kathy, seems to have been born knowing. Kathy has answers for all of Sally's questions about life, about love, and about Billy Barnes, a rising senior and local basketball star who mans the concession stand at the town pool. The girls have been fascinated by Billy ever since he jumped off the roof in elementary school, but Billy has never shown much interest in them until the summer before Sally begins eighth grade. By then, their mutual infatuation with Billy is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. Sally spends much of that summer at the pool, watching in confusion and excitement as her sister falls deeper in love with Billy—until a tragedy leaves Sally's life forever intertwined with his.
Opening in the early nineties and charting almost two decades of shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story about two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other and a wryly astute coming-of-age tale brimming with unexpected moments of joy.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.
"Once I began listening to Jesse Vilinksy's excellent narration I was immediately swept up in the story." – Anne Bogel, Modern Ms. Darcy
From Alison Espach, author of the New York Times Editor's Choice novel The Adults, comes a dazzlingly unconventional love story for readers of Ask Again, Yes and Tell the Wolves I'm Home.
For much of her life, Sally Holt has been mystified by the things her older sister, Kathy, seems to have been born knowing. Kathy has answers for all of Sally's questions about life, about love, and about Billy Barnes, a rising senior and local basketball star who mans the concession stand at the town pool. The girls have been fascinated by Billy ever since he jumped off the roof in elementary school, but Billy has never shown much interest in them until the summer before Sally begins eighth grade. By then, their mutual infatuation with Billy is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. Sally spends much of that summer at the pool, watching in confusion and excitement as her sister falls deeper in love with Billy—until a tragedy leaves Sally's life forever intertwined with his.
Opening in the early nineties and charting almost two decades of shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story about two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other and a wryly astute coming-of-age tale brimming with unexpected moments of joy.
A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt & Company.
Reviews-
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Starred review from March 7, 2022
A young woman addresses her older sister, who died when they were teens, in Espach’s inventive and powerful latest (after The Adults). Sally Holt, now 28, continues to find her life shaped by sister Kathy’s absence, prompting her to recount her life story, here unfolded in second-person narration. As a child, Sally is the subject of family concern because of her shyness, while Kathy, three years older, is comfortable in the spotlight and praised for her beauty. Despite the sisters’ contrasting temperaments, they are each other’s closest confidantes as they grow up in 1990s small-town Connecticut. Of particular interest to them both is high school senior Billy Barnes—a dreamy basketball player and the son of the town florist—who is in the grade above Kathy. After Billy saves 13-year-old Sally from drowning at the public pool, he begins dating Kathy, to Sally’s fascination and envy. A car accident involving all three teenagers permanently shifts the Holt family dynamic (“To sue for reckless driving or not to sue? That was the question,” Sally narrates, describing the tension between her parents over what to do about Billy, who was behind the wheel). In the aftermath, Billy and Sally unite in their shared grief and guilt. Espach captures the minutiae of love and loss with unflinching clarity and profound compassion, and pulls off the second-person point of view unusually well. Readers will be deeply moved. -
Jesse Vilinsky channels Sally Holt, a brash, straight-talking young woman who blames her 13-year-old self for the accident that killed her older sister, Kathy. Vilinsky matches Sally's harsh assessment of herself as she reveals her feelings with self-deprecating sarcasm in a long, rambling letter to Kathy. She recounts the devastating changes experienced by her family after the accident; the derailment of star athlete Billy, Kathy's boyfriend, who was driving the car; and her own deeply conflicted jealousy toward Kathy due to her own crush on Billy. Vilinsky is spot-on at expressing carefully tempered emotions to deliver Sally's melancholy at losing her sister and best friend. Alison Espach's engrossing, well-written novel and Vilinsky's skillful narration bring home the effects of tragedy on the people left behind. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
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September 1, 2022
Espach's (The Adults) second novel depicts a family devastated by a daughter's death. The summer before eighth grade, Sally and Kathy Holt are both drawn to the charming Billy Barnes. When Billy and Kathy begin dating, Sally becomes the third wheel. Tragedy strikes when Kathy dies in a car crash, leaving Billy, Sally, and her parents to deal with the crushing loss and ensuing guilt in the years that follow. Narrator Jesse Vilinsky's performance is spellbinding, portraying Sally's memories of her friendship with Kathy, her long-standing crush on Billy, and her terrible guilt over Kathy's death. Vilinsky captures character emotions fully--Kathy's father's hurt, anger, and stubbornness; her mother's disappointment, loss, and mental breakdown; Sally's withdrawal, insecurity, and mistrust of her judgment; and Billy's all-consuming guilt that leads him drifting in life. Vilinsky masterfully uses tempo and volume changes to move the story forward, often emphasizing the perfect word to evoke the right emotion. VERDICT It takes Hurricane Kathy to bring everyone together in this tale of finding oneself, love, and a place in life after catastrophic loss.--Stephanie Bange
Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
