Three Ways to Disappear

This is a beautiful novel about family and truth and being an outsider. Sarah , a journalist, takes on a job with a tiger conservation NGO in the small village in India where she and her family once lived, while in the US, her sister Quinn deals with a callous husband, a sick child, and the weight of guilt from her childhood in India. The two work to create a new relationship with each other and those around them, all the while threatened by the politics of their presence in India. The plots are compelling and the writing is gorgeous without being overambitious or false.

Three Ways to Disappear is a compelling novel that perfectly balances the conservationist angle with the dramatic family drama. Locom’s writing style is beautiful and glides through the themes of family tragedy, finding oneself, forbidden love and the magic of cultural kinship to mother -nature.
Sarah DeVaughan retires from her dangerous career in journalism, and pursues her true passion, returning to the country of her childhood- sparking the personal journey of finding where home truly is.
Her older sister Quinn battles with demons of her past, and the repercussions it has on her present family life. She learns to let go, to see strong women in another world, and to overcome fear.
I felt like I was transported to India, and I was so inspired by the descriptive depiction of frontline work by the environmentalists with the animals as well as the local villagers.

One is hard pressed to say which sister in this tale of family disconnection and reunification is more compelling: the exotic Sarah, journalist-turned-wildlife-activist, or Quinn, mother and keeper of the second, intact, set of twins in the family.

The story’s dual locations of India and Louisville, Kentucky mirrors the dividing of the narrative back and forth between the sisters’ points of view, which in turn reflects the western vs. eastern branching of the tale. Which is to say more lies tantalizingly beneath the surface of this book, rewarding multiple reads.

Filled with tigers, twins, passion, second chances, and plot twists which lead to an unexpected but satisfying climax, this book mesmerizes. It also educates on the plight of tigers and their struggle to survive.

Author Katy Yocum's debut novel Three Ways to Disappear is rich and compelling. It deftly intertwines themes of family, the connections between humanity nature, and the impact secrets can have on relationships between family members and sweethearts. It took me two days after finishing this book to gather my thoughts for this review, because by the end of the book I was so emotionally invested in these characters and what might happen to them. I felt the most connected to the younger sister, Sarah. While I could empathize with Quinn, I could not always admire her. This might have been intentional on the author's part. Quinn is a smart, talented, and sensitive soul. But she has been conditioned to suppress her emotions and cope with the unfairness of the situations she is dealt without really questioning them. There were many places in this novel where I really became frustrated with her over passiveness. The very people who are supposed to love her most, often took advantage or her or sometimes treated her with open contempt. While I know this can often reflect what happens in the real world, it is still maddening to read about a character allowing this to happen in a work of fiction. For that reason, Sarah makes a very refreshing contrast to her sister. She is not perfect and she admittedly makes some poor decisions throughout her version of the story, but she is resilient, curious, smart, and tremendously brave. In her own way, she too hides from the tragedies of her past that tore her nuclear family apart when she was a child by constantly traveling and never truly settling down until she decides to give up her career in journalism. When she finally does start to settle and tentatively put down roots as an ambassador for an NGO seeking to save the endangered tigers of India, she does so in a way that is essentially forbidden and risks making her an exile and an outcast from the very place she has begun to think of as home. Still, I loved Sarah. I loved the fact that she questioned things. I admired her courage, especially the fact that she never blamed others for what happened to her throughout the story, but she always took responsibility for her own actions. I also found the romance between her and her forbidden lover to be touching and fun to read. Most of all, I was captivated by her connection to the tigers throughout the story, and I loved that this connection carried through to the very end.

It amazed me how Yocum was able to make all of these characters so real and life-like, even the tigers. Her characterization, plot and setting were all vibrant and lovely. She makes it seem effortless the way she captures the beauty and complexities of India and makes the setting as much a part of the story as the people and the animals she characterizes. The prose was also beautiful and thought provoking.

My only real complaints about the book were the ending and the way the chapters were broken down. I was caught completely by surprise by the ending of this novel. Without giving away any spoilers, I can only say that the way it ended brought to mind novels by another author who is well-known and popular and who has had several books adapted into movies. I can't even say which author I mean because that in itself would be a spoiler. While I concede that the ending is very plausible and could happen in real-life, I didn't completely believe that this is the way the story needed to end. I felt that other scenarios would have made for an equally plausible ending and that is as much as I will say about it. In terms of the way the chapters were broken down, it might be that if I'd read a paper copy of this book it wouldn't have bothered me to have each chapter titled by the sister's name only, without also numbering each chapter. This is mainly a pet peeve on my part. I gain a sense of real satisfaction when I can, in some way, measure how far I've progressed in a book as I am reading it. This is harder to do anyway with a digital copy, but not having the numbered chapters made it even more difficult.

Overall, I give this book four out of five stars. I really enjoyed reading it and had no trouble finishing it. It kept my interest all the way through to the end. I found the premise to be unique, and even though it is a work of literary fiction, it still often kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I found it to be a beautiful, engrossing, and fun read.

This is a delightful novel.
Told in alternating chapters, it’s the story of two sisters and the repercussions of carrying secrets and guilt.
The writing is beautiful and the plot slowly unfolds revealing a tale of love and loss, fractured relationships, and learning to let go of the past.

This book is an unraveling of sorts. The author takes us into rural India exploring a childhood that's beautiful until trauma strikes and they up and leave only for the youngest, Sarah to move there years later as a journalist, helping to save tigers. It's a beautifully told story with each character's views expressed in their own time and voice.
Thank you Netgalley for the eARC.

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.

A powerful story told by two sisters who lost a brother when he was 7. Raised until then in India, his twin returns to work in tiger conservation while their older sister deals with guilt and worry. I enjoyed the sisters and their story. The author made India and the plight of the tigers come to life in vivid color.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"When I was a boy, I used to wonder why tigers would ever hurt anything but humans....Most of us are completely distracted ninety percent of the time, regretting the past or worrying about the future. We would be the easiest prey in the world."

What makes this novel unique, is that it is a Family Drama combined with an Environmental fiction novel.

Sarah returns to India, land of her early childhood to work for the conservation of the Bengal Tigers. It soon becomes apparent that she has a way with the tigers and that they seem to favor her, as sightings in the park increase since her arrival. But while in India, old wounds resurface (her twin brother Marcus died of cholera at age 8) and she starts questioning the past.

Her older sister Quinn lives in the US and struggles with her own grief of what happened to Marcus in India, as she blames herself. Having twins herself, and the one suffering from severe asthma, she is scared of losing him as well.

The two storylines interweaves perfectly and you really get invested in the lives of these sisters. The writing is beautiful and learning about the Bengal tiger was a bonus for me.

Themes that are explored in the book: Early childhood trauma, family, marriage, nature conservation, Indian culture, inter-racial relationships, mental health.

Three Ways to Disappear
by Katy Yocom
Ashland Creek Press
Release date: July 16, 2019
Pages: 300


Ashland Creek Publishing in exchange for my honest review.
This book was received as an ARC from the publisher and Author , in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own


Katy Yocom has created an unforgettable poignant charged novel. Told in alternating chapters, it’s the story of two sisters and the repercussions of carrying secrets and guilt.
The writing is beautiful and the plot slowly unfolds revealing a tale of love and loss, fractured relationships, and learning to let go of the past. With complex global issues of the tragedy of the native villagers whose livelihoods have been ravaged by the loss of lands and lakes consumed by national nature parks who confiscate the land as a way to save both earth and wildlife. In this descriptive and lush book about human nature and a beautiful relatable characters, the author pulls you into this dramatic descriptive storyline.
Sarah DeVaughan leaves behind a nomadic and dangerous career as a journalist, to return to India, the country of her childhood and a place of unspeakable family tragedy, to help preserve the endangered Bengal tigers. Meanwhile, at home in Kentucky, her sister, Quinn—also deeply scarred by the past and herself a keeper of secrets—tries to support her sister, even as she fears that India will not be whatever sister, Sarah needs right now in her life

I definitely recommend this book to friends and family

Three Ways to Disappear is a book that will stand the test of time. It goes back and forth between two sisters. One sister is completely immersed in her family life, while the other is immersed in her work as a journalist who studies tigers in India.

The story has so much tragedy, and that is where I connected with this book the most. The author really honed in on the backstory of both sisters and did such an amazing job of creating an emotional connection with the reader.

Three Ways to Disappear really surprised me. I hadn't expected such a well written and moving story, but that's exactly what I got! Three Ways to Disappear tells the story of three siblings, Sarah, Quinn and Marcus. Having moved away from India following Marcus' death the two girls try to build a new life, but India keeps drawing Sarah back. There she finds fulfillment in working with endangered tigers, and finds love.

I didn't know much about tiger conservation, but this was a really interesting way to learn about it. I also really enjoyed the sibling dynamics, and I think they were portrayed quite realistically, as was the girl's fraught relationship with their mother.

A really good read. If anything, just a little sad. Will recommend.

Tygre tygre burning bright!

What an unusual story; intriguing and immersing with the switch between past reminiscences and the current day of two sisters. Sarah DeVaughan, a disillusioned journalist is “Done. With journalism.” She's covered the worst of areas evidencing man's inhumanity to man and is now turning her back on the world of war and heartbreak for what will become a different sort of heartbreak, the world of animal protection and sanctuaries. A world of poaching, and of death and life revisited and the past revisited at the Tiger Sanctuary, Ranthambore (a place she'd last visited when she was seven and her twin Marcus was still alive) in Sawai Madhopur, India doing media work and fundraising for a conservation NGO.
Underlining Sarah's move is the story of her childhood, her family's half remembered early life in India, and the death of her twin. Something her sister Quinn has never come to grips with. That tragedy forms the background for Sara's journey as the story moves between the sisters' lives and their inner torments.
The sanctuary had been hastily created by the government on the lush land held by the farmers of the Village of Vinyal. They had been relocated to flat treeless lands, a place where water for cattle becomes a major concern for the people's livelihood over against the survival of the tigers.
Sarah's story is unexpected, touching and complex. Her love for the tigers grows, as does her concern for the women of the village, particularly the widows and the damaged. Marrying together those concerns are both heartbreaking and triumphant.
Then there's the tiger Akbar, the resident male. Almost it seems that an awareness of each other passes between Sarah and Akbar. Indeed data shows that almost each time Sarah journeys into the park, Akbar appears. Her first sight of him says it all, "He turned his head and looked right into her eyes." That connection holds throughout the story.
As an aside, the reasons for people wearing tiger masks on the back of their heads is fascinating.
Well researched, this is a story for our times with just a touch of magic and lament.
The book's title says it all, Three ways to disappear!

A Smith Publicity ARC via NetGalley

This interesting combination of family drama and environmental fiction or eco fiction really worked for me. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but I was surprised to find I fell in love with the story as a whole, but not in parts. Usually it's the other way around.