The Vanishing Act

Jakobsen’s debut novel is the refreshingly pared-down story of one girl’s tiny world and the life lessons available in the smallest of existences. A year after Minou’s Mama disappeared from the tiny island where she and her Papa make their home, the body of a dead boy washes up on shore. Everyone else on the island—Priest, Boxman, and Papa—believes that Mama is dead, but Minou remains unconvinced. Following the logic-based deductions imparted to her by her philosopher father, Minou relives the events leading up to Mama’s disappearance, searching for signs and hopeful that the dead boy may provide a clue. The night before Mama left, she, Minou, and Boxman, a circus man with a broken heart, had collaborated on a dangerous act that made Mama vanish, and Mama’s yearning for an existence outside the island is made painfully clear. The sweet yet pragmatic 12-year-old girl watches Papa’s search for “the absolute truth” grate against Mama’s love for the imagined, slowly unraveling their partnership. Jakobsen creates a lot with a little and builds on universals, proving that some truths are, in fact, fundamental. Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management. (Sept.)