Acts of Violet
{4.5/5} “I’ve been immersed in the purgatory of my sister’s disappearance for the last decade. I think about her every… day. But since I prefer to avoid big emotional displays, I get criticized for not caring enough about her absence (mostly by people I don’t know, sometimes by the one I gave birth to). It’s bad enough every anniversary brings up extra Violet worship, but something about round numbers makes people lose their minds.”
Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore, published in 2022
Violet Volk was a magician and self-help guru who disappeared 10 years ago. At her last performance as a magician, she disappeared and never reappeared. No one knows if she did it on purpose or not — she hasn’t been found. She still has lots of admirers but her sister Sasha has more ambivalent feelings about her.
The story of Sasha is interspersed with transcripts from a podcast, newspaper articles, and letters. The email that Sasha sends to the podcast host is glorious.
It’s a bit like a Kate Morton novel, in that we gradually find out more and more about someone who’s not around.
It’s about what happens when you have a famous sister who doesn’t seem to care about you anymore, and when you realize that mysterious events might all be connected.
This the 2nd book I’ve read by Montimore. I previously reviewed Oona Out of Order.