Sarah, who has traveled the world as a journalist, returns to India where her childhood took place and an unspeakable family tragedy. She joins in conservation efforts to help preserve the endangered Bengal Tigers. Meanwhile her older sister Quinn, is at home in Kentucky, struggling with the deep scars their childhood has left. On Sarah’s first day, there is a tiger sighting which is unusual the first time according to her coworkers. Something about the tigers draws Sarah and and she can’t imagine ever leaving.. Back home Quinn is dealing with her sons life threatening illness and a crumbling marriage. When Sarah asks Quinn to join her in India, she realizes maybe the only way to move forward is to go back to the place where if began.
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This book touches on very real world issues. Endangered species, poverty in third world countries, etc. The connection between human and nature in this book is so powerful and beautiful. Katy Yocom used her real experiences from conservation parks in India to create a masterpiece! Sarah's connection to the villagers and tigers is absolutely breathtaking. The myths about Sarah and her Tiger added such a unique touch to the story that also felt so magical. The descriptions about the tigers paint beautiful pictures. Not only the tigers, but the connections of humans and cultural differences. Something that I found such a great surprise is that there is also a romance aspect to this novel as well! Ugh, I could go on and on about this book. Publishes July 16th so go preorder a copy!!
I am so thankful to have been approved for an advanced copy from Ashland Creek Press.This review is completely my own opinion!

Let there be no doubt - I adored this book! With its main themes of animal conservation and sisterhood it was always going to draw me in, but for a debut novel I was surprised at just how accomplished it was. Tremendously moving, and very well-written.

Jaded with her life as a globe-trotting journalist, covering wars and natural disasters, Sarah DeVaughan leaves her mother and sister behind in Kentucky and takes a new job in the land of her birth, working for a tiger conservation NGO near Ranthambore NP in Rajasthan, India. On the day of her arrival, a tiger accident (a euphemism for a human fatality caused by a tiger encounter) in a nearby village is a rare coincidence, but it seems to set the uneasy tone for Sarah's tenure in her new role. It's not long before Sarah has her own close encounter with Akbar, the park's resident male.

"As she read the field guide by the red beam of her penlight, something shifted in the atmosphere to her right. Without moving, she slid her eyes in that direction. And there he was: a tiger, standing alongside the jeep. She could have reached out and touched him. In the gray half light, his body blended into the forest like a ghost. He turned his head and looked right into her eyes. Then he stepped past her into the headlights, and Sanjay whispered, “Tigertigertiger!” and the four of them rose to their feet. In the light, he was no ghost but a big, glossy male, long and lean, close enough that Sarah could see the individual hairs in his fiery orange coat. His breath turned to smoke as it hit the air. Without taking her eyes off the animal, Sarah raised her camera."

As her work with her new, small team continues, it comes to notice that the incidence of tiger sightings increases when Sarah is on board, and then one day, while supporting a foreign documentary film crew, Sarah makes an ill-advised but successful cub rescue that is caught on film and the legend of Tiger Woman is born. (While this might sound a bit silly, it's kept quite low-key in terms of the story-telling, but it is actually an important element later on.)

Meanwhile back in Kentucky, Sarah's older sister Quinn is troubled by her son's severe asthma symptoms and by her husband's apparently casual attitude towards it. Little Nick is a twin, and a continual reminder of the younger brother she lost as a child - Sarah's twin. Both sisters have carried enormous guilt over their brother's death for most of their lives, and this is something that has prevented them from being closer to each other, and to their surviving mother. A particularly severe asthma attack is the catalyst for Quinn reaching out to both her sister and her mother to try to find some peace with her own part in Marcus' death.

"It hit Quinn then that Mother had lost all three of her children. They had each found their own way to disappear from her, and from one another. Marcus had had no say in the matter, but Sarah and Quinn—they chose."

On a visit to India, the two sisters begin to open up and reconnect.

"They fell silent, considering the little gravestone with the bright bouquet. Sweet Marcus. The empty space in the middle of all their lives."

Quinn goes to spend time with Sarah at Ranthambore, and starts to understand the pull of Sarah's new vocation.

"...there was Machli, lying at the lakeside, regal in repose. Shaggy and thin as she was, she was still glorious. She blinked lazily and elevated her chin as if contemplating her own magnificence. How satisfying, she seemed to say, to be so splendid."

Then, just as relationships begin to mend, a shocking twist seemingly prevents the happy-ever-after we might have hoped for.

So far, this is my favourite book of 2019. It's one I will certainly read again in the future.

Sarah DeVaughan's twin brother Marcus died of cholera in India at the age of 7, and the entire family never got over it. In present-day Louisville, Kentucky Sarah is 32-yrs old and her sister Quinn is 35. Quinn's constant fear that her own 7 yr-old twin son will die is causing problems in her marriage. And crazy risk-taker Sarah sets off for a job saving tigers in India.

Writer Katy Yocom writes beautifully, at times like a linguist at others like a travel writer, she really brings the DeVaughan family to life as well as the characters Sarah works with in Sawai. In the Afterward her research in India is described in depth, but I wondered what is her experience with twins. Both sets of twins in differing generations exhibit traits so authentic it broke my heart: "You know what?" Quinn said (to Sarah, after her twin Marcus dies), "I'll be your twin now." Sarah slapped her across the face.

I liked the theme of feminism running throughout "The world would be a better place if more women were selfish" albeit intermittently interrupted with Mother-isms like "Hogamus higamus men are polygamous. Higamus hogamus, women monogamous." While I read in the Afterward that the revolt at the reservoir was based on an actual event, as I read that part in the book I was very confused, didn't understand why William was calling in water trucks, or why there seemed to be no authoritative oversight, why Sanjay all of a sudden acted like such a daredevil, and then even the mother's mystery at the end I found unsatisfying, but I'll chalk that up to my just wanting this story to continue, it was that absorbing.

I was drawn to this book because of the Author's ties to my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky.But the real star of the story is India and specifically a conservation park. Colors, smells, textures all come to life through exquisite storytelling. Tigers and their natural habitat are showcased and the Author demonstrates knowledge of such through her research and trip to India. A love story and a reconnection of sisters is a springboard for the conservation and well executed. An author to watch.

Three Ways to Disappear 🐅 - Katy Yocom
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Writing: 7.5/10
Plot: 8/10
Need to read: 5/10
Overall: 7/10
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Wow it feels good to finally finish a book after all this time. ⭐️ Three Ways to Disappear is about two sisters, Quinn and Sarah, and the story of their lives unraveling and intertwining while they’re halfway across the globe from one another. 🌳🐅 This novel is a refreshingly realistic depiction of family life and the fine line between love and resentment. 🎒 Between moving, starting four classes, and starting a new job this book took me a while to get through but the plot was one that stuck out in my mind so I knew exactly where I was every time I picked it up. 🌖 Honestly the writing wasn’t very beautiful or standout, but I had to rate it highly because I think the writing really let the plot shine in this book. It flowed really well and the way the story was structured felt very natural.

Three Ways To Disappear is a beautiful novel which revolves around family, truth and honesty and focuses on being an outsider. Sarah DeVaughan has left her job as a journalist to take on a job at a tiger conservation in a small Indian village where she once lived with her family.
It is an amazing book which transports you to India and throws you into this world where Sarah works on the conservation to help endangered Bengal tigers. It also focuses on Sarah's relationship with her sister Quinn and the people around them.
It is a fantastically compelling story with beautiful writing and amazing intricate plots weaving into each other. I really liked this book.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book. It was really well written and kept me reading, curious about what the characters would do next.

The story goes back and forth between 2 sisters, Sarah, an international journalist who settles down in India to work at a tiger sanctuary, and Quinn, a mother of twins who has lives in Kentucky. They grew up as children in India until Sarah's twin died and their mother moved them back to the US.

The relationship between the sisters and then their mother was great and I love how much it evolved, especially as they came to terms with the unfortunate death of their brother so many years ago. I enjoyed the explorations of different ways that people disappear from one anther and how they use this to cope with or hide from their pain.

Then there were the tigers, the masters of camouflage. They were integral characters to the book as well and I loved the descriptions of them and their interesting personalities. In fact, so many of the scenes in India were wonderful and richly described. Along with the tigers were the small villages affected by the tiger sanctuary -- there are so many layers to things and this book reminds us of this. Yes, it is good to save the tigers, but in so doing, there can be adverse effects for others nearby if the situation isn't dealt with properly. This book highlighted how we are all interconnected, even down to purses being made by women in a village in India and how that changes things for the person selling them in the US.


Overall, I really enjoyed this book and watching the characters develop, learn, and grow. I loved the descriptions, and even the politics. These are certainly issues we need to be dealing with on a global level, but shows how small, individual steps can make a difference and how women supporting women and change a community.



Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy of this book.

The cover grabbed me and just as quickly so did the story! It is set in both the US and India and I really appreciated both the family drama and how well balanced it was with the conservationist angle. It is a powerful read that touches on so many topics, familial, environmental, multicultural and political without a moment of boredom. It was interesting to see how each sister responded to the loss of their brother and how their lives took totally different paths. I would like the thank Net Galley, the author and publisher.

WOW. Absolutely one of my favorite books so far this year. Katy Yocom's writing has that uncanny ability to immerse you into the setting of the story, so that you lose track of time and place while you read. When you stop reading, you might be a little out of sorts as you return to reality. I'm not exaggerating - it's that good!

I really connected with the two sisters who make up the main characters, but especially Sarah. This book explores themes of family and alienation, as well as idealism, culture shock, and the political implications of colonialism. Another book that features strong women without making a huge fanfare about it. I love it.

Thank you Ashland Creek Press, Katy Yocom, and NetGalley for allowing me to access this beautiful book. As always, all opinions are my own.

As an avid tiger advocate, I was drawn to the beautiful cover of this novel. I went into it hoping to fall in love with the story and I totally did.

Told in alternating views of two sisters, Sarah and Quinn, this book tells the tale of both their shared childhood and their present adult lives. Their lives could not be more different, with Quinn being a devoted wife and mother, while Sarah traveled the world as a journalist before moving to India to work on tiger conservation and advocacy. Alternating viewpoints like this can be tricky and Ms. Yocom did it beautifully. I was disappointed to see each chapter end, but not so much so that I felt the need to skip ahead to see how that plot line played out.

This novel is so beautifully written and I fell in love with these sisters and their families - both their biological families and their extended families. It was amazing to read about the Indian culture and the descriptions were vividly portrayed so that I felt like I was living it myself. There were times that this story even moved me to tears.

I have numerous highlighted quotes that touched my heart, as well as book references that I feel so compelled to check out. I plan to also purchase the hard cover of this book and hope to catch the author on a publicity tour. I hope that she has follow up books, because I fully plan to read whatever she writes!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book is bursting with beauty - from the descriptions of locations to the building of characters.

A family tragedy affects every member, and each reacts in a different way. The characters in Katy Yocom’s debut novel live in diverse settings from Ranthambore in northern India, where the children of the DeVaughan family grew up, to Louisville, Kentucky. The story is unveiled from dual points of view between a surviving twin, Sarah, who chooses to return to India to work with “Tiger Survival,” and her older sister, Quinn, also a mother of twins who has never lost the fear of the differences in culture between India and America. The author carefully builds forward as she also traces backward to their particular family tragedy in childhood: the accidental drowning of Sarah’s twin, Marcus. Of particular delight in this novel is the vivid detail of life in India, including the teeming population, the disappearing wild tiger, and the extremes of weather between drought when “the ground is dust and stone,” and the monsoon, where the colors of trees, flowers, and clothing are as vivid as the many bright hues in God’s palette. Yocom’s research and love of the tiger and of setting are apparent on every page. An authentically written environmental treatise combined with an endearing love story that will seer your memory long after the reading. Not to be missed.

Sarah DeVaughan always knew Louisville wasn't her home, her older sister Quinn describing her as "a citizen of the world", her journalism career taking her to far flung corners of the earth. War zones, human interest stories, feeling the need to make these people known, yet having difficulty accepting that not everyone wanted to know what happened after. A woman invested in her career, turning it into a lifestyle. A surviving twin.
Sarah was nothing like Quinn. Quinn, who had settled down, who never truly dealt with her feelings about India, who still blamed herself for Marcus and saw her children as a path to redemption, a chance to make different choices. Quinn, who can't understand why Sarah would choose to go back to the place that destroyed them, that took everything from them, the place that stole their brother and their father.
These two women could not have been more different, and yet, Three Ways to Disappear follows their journey as they find themselves again.
Quitting her job was one of the hardest things Sarah had ever done, but she knew that India was calling her home. She wanted to make a difference, do more than just report on crisis without following it through to the end. So she finds herself in Sawai Madhopur, part of Tiger Survival at Ranthambore tiger reserve. From day one, the other employees are convinced she carries tiger magic in her, with tiger spottings at an unprecedented rate when she is with the rangers, and within a short time at the park, she becomes gains international notoriety after saving a tiger cub from drowning, at great personal risk (while, of course, being caught on film by a British film crew). Sarah begins to come under a lot of scrutiny, both from the local village of Vanyal, and from her supervisor, Geeta. Determined to find a way to affect change for the women in India, Sarah schemes with Quinn, and together they start a cooperative of women creating handbags and scarves to sell in the United States. Sarah sees potential in these women, and an opportunity to give them independence in a male-dominant society.
Back in America Quinn struggles to come to terms with her sister's return to India, the continued pain over the loss of Marcus, and her tenuous marriage, being held together by threads. Feeling defeated, she visits Sarah in India, where her eyes are opened to the opportunities to change these women's lives for the better. Or rather, to help them change their lives. Quinn latches onto this project, and while she still has her problems at home, she begins to find some peace.
Three Ways to Disappear is a beautiful story of love, and loss, and pain, and healing. It is inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time, and Katy Yocom has done an incredibly beautiful job in every way in creating this story. The thorough research makes Sarah and Quinn's story, and that of their families, friends, coworkers, and the women they are trying to help, that much more sad to read. This wasn't just a book, Three Ways to Disappear is a call to action. We cannot keep turning a blind eye to things we think don't affect us. Tigers are not the only animals on the endangered species list, and we are not doing enough to make this public knowledge. Not only does Yocom shed light on this issue, but she is realistic about possible solutions. We, as humans, cannot keep destroying the planet in the careless way we have gone about this. We cannot remain naive to the issues around us. These problems are so much bigger than just one person.
Three Ways to Disappear is a page-turner that I was not able to put down, and once I was finished, I just stared at the cover, processing what had happened. I will most definitely be recommending Three Ways to Disappear.

"There's no doing good in one way without doing harm in another."

At first, I was sure I was going to be bored by this book: sisters Quinn and Sarah, bound together by family love and the trauma of losing their brother long ago, but always at odds over the lifestyle choices of each--it felt like a story I had read before.

However, this book has so much more to offer than just family drama, although that develops into an important and compelling part of the narrative. The politics and societal mores of India clash with Sarah's outgoing personality and desire for concrete action. When she takes her job with a tiger conservation nonprofit organization a little too literally, she stirs up publicity as well as personal controversy. Back home in Louisville, Kentucky, Quinn's solid, safe family life starts to feel shaky as she contemplates the state of her marriage and her mother's mental health. Eventually, the sisters' stories converge in India and they learn things about their past and their present selves that change the way they see the world.

I liked this book for many reasons. First, as the above quote suggests, there are no easy answers. Sarah's desire to help conserve the tiger population puts her in conflict with native inhabitants of the small town where she works, as does her identity as a Westerner. Quinn has to balance what's best for her family with what she personally needs to stay happy and healthy. I particularly liked the ending, although I won't spoil it here.

In addition, I thought Yocom did a superb job of balancing character development with an engaging plot; I like a book that moves, but I also enjoy getting to know the protagonist(s) and feeling like I can understand their motivation.

Lastly, I think this book has an important message about conservation, which the author treats as the complex and emotional subject it is. This is the kind of book that can start a conversation about topics such as women's rights, protecting endangered species, and empowering citizens to become part of the solution to these issues. Best of all, it does none of this at the expense of the story--it fits naturally into the narrative.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and would give it 4.5/5 stars.

This one started off strong for me. I was drawn into the story quickly and the author does an excellent job of creating setting and interesting characters. I enjoyed reading Sarah and Quinn's alternating points of view on opposite sides of the globe. I found the facts about the tigers and the conservation efforts very interesting. I do not, however, like sex scenes in the novels that I read and feel like I can not recommend it to others who are sensitive to that type of content. Without the love scenes I would give it a 4 star rating but with them my rating is a 3.

For some reason, when I started reading this novel, I wasn't sure I'd remain interested because I felt like I had to reread things at the beginning thinking I was missing something. I just had to be patient and the story unfolded. The author intentionally said little about Marcus's death in the beginning so she could use that death as a thread throughout the novel. The novel begins in India, where the husband and father of three young children takes his family so he can practice medicine. The mother misses being back home in Kentucky, where they do return after the death of the son. Years later, one sister remains to India to work with endangered Bengal tigers, and the other sister marries and has twins of her own, the son suffers from asthma, so she is constantly reminded of how Marcus died young. Sarah, the twin of Marcus, invites Quinn to visit her in India, and they reestablish their ties, visit their family home, and reunite with their caretaker. It's a novel where someone spends her life blaming herself for something she could not have prevented, a novel where humans are responsible for the extinction of tigers and many do try to save them, and where families fall apart because of unfair expectations, hidden secrets, and miscommunication. I do wish the novel hadn't ended as it did because that ending seemed to be the destination from the start, yet, somehow, it did seem possible that another ending could have happened.

This book was such a pleasant surprise! The characters and setting pulled me right in, keeping up the momentum until the very end.

I thought the character development between the two sisters was one of the most impressive aspects. A lot of novels are using different perspectives now, but I think that it was done particularly well in this book. You really felt the difference between Quinn and Sarah, in their personalities as well as a sense that their lives, they are on different paths. Really really well done!

Three Ways to Disappear is a beautiful story that books you from the first chapter. I loved this book. Well written and wonderful characters.

Not since I read Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide have I been moved by another environmental fiction like did with Three Ways to Disappear. Exquisitely written and tenderly narrated, Katy Yocom's narration is smooth as a knife on a ripe banana even when it delivers the most horrifying plot point. Yocom is sensitive to the landscape and people she writes about and, as an Indian I empathized with a lot of details told in the book. The impressive details and nuances of village life she brings to her story is proof of her meticulous research. Not to mention, there is not a discordant chord in the symphony of her writing. Man-animal conflict is at the heart of Three Ways to Disappear, blended as it is with a family tragedy, and the author's well-polished knowledge of the subject on Tigers makes it an extremely engaging read. Often times, in its narrative beauty, the book bears resemblance to Katharine Boo's Behind the Beautiful Forevers and it only further signals the author's triumph. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

A story of an American family who grew up in India, then left early because of a family tragedy. Each family member deals with the tragedy in their own way, however it casts a shadow over each of their lives. The secrets and sadness break through when one daughter returns to India to help save the tigers and finds love along the way.

Three Ways is a story about culture, nature, and family relationships. It is well written and engaging until the very end. As someone who lived in India, it also brought back memories of the people and places I visited while there.