The Vanishing Book: A Fictionalised Memoir by Shirley Read-Jahn

I read this book in December 2023

I’ve read a few of Shirley Read-Jahn’s books and am once again amazed by the incredible history she and her family share. With her father’s career as a spy and her own immensely exciting and adventurous life, I didn’t think things could get still more interesting, but this book reveals a fascinating family history based on her mother’s side of the family in the UK. I enjoyed the mix of memoir and fictionalised biography as Shirley develops the story of her grandfather’s and his forebears’ lives alongside her own quest to find a special book that reveals unique information about her maternal family’s history; a book that, even in her grandfather’s time, keeps vanishing.

I loved all the history and the family photos the author includes to support her story. I was intrigued by her grandfather’s connection to Charles Dickens, and I loved the details of her own attempts to find the book that kept evading her. This is an intriguing and cleverly woven story, and even if the history sections are written as fictional narrative, they are still largely true. Well done, Shirley Read-Jahn. The Vanishing Book is a marvellous testament to you and your family.

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