The Vanishing of Rose B.

Two sisters ruminate on their late mother and a specific night from their childhood in Garruba’s novel.

After losing their mother, Rose, adult sisters Frances and Claire reunite. The two women seem diametrically opposed—while Frances left her family to move to California for college, Claire withdrew from her life in New York to move back home after a personal setback; Claire spends time on her art while Frances is extremely work-oriented at her architecture firm. As the sisters sort through Rose’s belongings, Claire suggests taking portraits of Frances clad in their mother’s clothing and accessories. Frances acquiesces, despite her reservations: “Frances fought to not be Rose, being so much like Rose herself. Frances changing cities as if she were changing clothes. Frances wanting a different face, a different skin, a different set of bones.” While posing for Claire, Frances recalls childhood moments, focusing specifically on the night of her and Claire’s recital, when Rose had donned a pink pillbox hat. As the story continues, the mystery of that night unspools, though the sisters remember the event in slightly different ways. Memory and grief are at the heart of Garruba’s tale; the author explores the ways in which the two are intertwined and shape those who are left behind when loved ones die. Frances and Claire try, in their respective ways, to hold on to and understand Rose, a woman they failed to truly grasp in life. As Claire later states, “The memory’s dying, Frances…Dying fast. I felt the need to fix it.” This meditation on family and memory is a bit hard to follow at the start, when readers are still getting their bearings. The prose has a lyrical quality, with intentional repetitions that sometimes read like poetry. Garruba’s writing is descriptive and stirring, placing readers fully in the sisters’ memories, as in this recollection of a flood: “We passed debris from flushed-out homes. Floating chairs and pillows. Pictures torn from their frames.” This is an emotional, evocative work that effectively highlights the complexities of personhood and familial relationships.

A poignant read.