Three Ways to Disappear

by Katy Yocom

Leaving behind a nomadic and dangerous career as a journalist, Sarah DeVaughan returns 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 be Sarah's undoing.

As Sarah faces challenges in her new job--made complicated by complex local politics and a forbidden love--Quinn copes with their mother's refusal to talk about the past, her son's life-threatening illness, and her own increasingly troubled marriage. When Sarah asks Quinn to join her in India, Quinn realizes that the only way to overcome the past is to return to it, and it is in this place of stunning natural beauty and hidden danger that the sisters can finally understand the ways in which their family has disappeared--from their shared history, from one another--and recognize that they may need to risk everything to find themselves again.

With dramatic urgency, a powerful sense of place, and a beautifully rendered cast of characters revealing a deep understanding of human nature in all its flawed glory, Katy Yocom has created an unforgettable novel about saving all that is precious, from endangered species to the indelible bonds among family.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, India, Contemporary, Asia

316 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2019

Reviews

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Equal parts family drama and environmental fiction. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Sarah DeVaughan has been a journalist, living on the edge, facing dangerous assignments, when she decides to leave and move back to India, her childhood home. There she must face a past family tragedy, and her aim? To help with Bengal tiger preservation. Did I ever mention the Bengal tiger is one of my favorite animals?

Back in Kentucky, Sarah’s sister, Quinn, is fragile and scarred, and she is afraid that Sarah’s choice to go to India is not a safe one because of what happened to their family.

Sarah’s new job has some side drama with local politics due to her activism and a love affair. While she’s battling away in India, Quinn has her hands full with her mother, son, and a difficult marriage.

Sarah asks Quinn to come to India, and she does, and in doing so, they are preparing to face the trauma of their past. Sarah and Quinn seek healing for their family together.

Oh my, this book is gorgeous. The setting is atmospheric and comes brilliantly to life. These sisters are relatable and fallibly complex. The tigers- well, they simply set this book apart.

Overall, Three Ways to Disappear is a book about family dynamics and secrets of the past, tied into glorious writing with important activism. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to read this book, and I was completely enchanted and whisked away to India.

I received a complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com

[Kimberly Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m in awe and in love with this book! Three Ways to Disappear is both an absorbing family drama as well as an environmental fiction novel. It is a story as passionate about the restoration and healing of a family as well as the survival of the majestic Bengal tigers, an endangered species.

Set in the year 2000, Sarah returns to India, the land of her early childhood, to work for the conservation of Bengal tigers as a staff member of Tiger Survival, which is based at the lush Ranthambore tiger reserve in Northern India.

Sarah and her older sister Quinn are still traumatized by the death of Sarah’s twin brother Marcus. He died from cholera while the children were living in India with their medical doctor father and mother. Their mother refuses to talk about the loss. Quinn blames herself for the events leading up to the illness and death of Marcus. The sisters have never recovered from the trauma of their brother’s death and their parents’ subsequent divorce.

Sarah has inherited her late father’s compassion and love of service. He could not look away from the suffering of the poor, which is why he started a medical clinic in India.

Quinn lives in the US and now has twins of her own, a boy and girl. She fears the past may repeat itself, as her son has nearly died from an asthma attack. She has irrational fears she will not be able to save her son, as she believes she failed to save her brother.

This story encompasses themes of childhood past trauma, family, marriage, service, conservation, the regal Bengal tiger, the culture of India, and romantic love.

I received a digital ARC from NetGalley and Ashland Creek Press in exchange for my honest review.

[Elizabeth George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katy Yocum applied for a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation because she wanted to go to India and photograph tigers for a book she intended to write. The board approved her application on the strength of her writing and her letters of recommendation although we were worried about the tiger part and asked that she get a very good telephoto lens. This book is the result of the trip she took and the hard work that followed.

It's very good on many levels. It's a family story, it's a love story, it's a story about loving animals and wanting them to live, and it's a story about other cultures and what we have to learn about them. It's gripping and memorable.

And the tigers are wonderful.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy to read and review.

[Prathap · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.
PS: Received a review copy from NetGalley.

[Ann Schwarz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Author Katy Yocum's debut novel Three Ways to Disappear is a rich and compelling read. It deftly intertwines themes of family, the connections between humanity and the balance of nature, and the impact secrets can have on relationships, whether they be between family members or sweethearts. It took me two days after finishing this book to gather my thoughts and feelings into coherency, because by the end of the book I was so emotionally invested in these characters and what would become of them. I felt the most connected to the younger sister, Sarah. While I could empathize with Quinn, I could not always admire her as much as I could Sarah. This might have been the author's intention. Quinn is a smart, talented, 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 how passive she could be.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 the reality is that too many women probably allow others to dictate far too much how they should feel or react to conflict or heartbreak, 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 as a character 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 organization 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 a 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. But I appreciated the fact that Yocum made the romantic elements of the story secondary to the overall plot of the novel even thought it later becomes a central part of the tension and suspense surrounding Sarah and her story. 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 that. 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. But because I received a free copy of this novel on Netgalley to read and review, having the chapters formatted in this way made it harder for me to gauge my progress through the novel. 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 feel anyone who loves books inhabited by rich and complicated people, who loves animals and is concerned by environmental issues and the protection of endangered species, and/or who is fascinated by India, will enjoy this novel. I will say there are a few steamy love scenes in it, but if you don't mind some romance thrown into the mix you will fully appreciate Three Ways to Disappear.

[Moony (Captain Mischief) MeowPoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this at Netgalley
It was very interesting to read about how one invest so much in Tigers and their life ad survival all while struggle with her own life and getting connection with her sister, yet again. I didn't have any expetations for this one, but the book was interesting and moving. Though it took time for me to connect with both the sisters, and it felt like when i did, it was over. That was a little sad.

[jo]

I have serious problems with this book. The story is well-written, well-articulated and compelling but it perpetuates the damaging trope of white saviorism. Every time we put -- in reality, in fiction, in our reporting on things -- energetic and well-meaning Western white people at the center of a critical situation affecting the life of subaltern communities of color, we feed into the fantasy that

1) privileged white people have something to give that subaltern POCs don't already have,
2) the neo-liberal, often Christian though not in this case, values of the Western world are universally good and everyone on earth would be better off if they adopted them,
3) subaltern communities are simple, uneducated and uncultured,
4) whatever culture they might have is primitive and of little value, which leads us among other things to find great fault with aspects of their culture which are in fact aspects of our culture too, typically misogyny and the subjection of women
5) whatever causes subaltern communities to suffer from poverty is not the product of centuries-long colonial exploitation from which the West benefits to this day but their innate lack of resourcefulness, and lastly
6) a well-meaning, enthusiastic and possibly well-heeled white Westerner can all by themselves step in and make everything better.

The devaluation of historical wrongs perpetrated on communities of color worldwide and of the richness of their culture that the trope of the white savior perpetrates is so grievous that this trope should be fought with everything we have. It is better for white people to stop profiting from the exploitation of communities of color the world over through conscious practices in their own (the white people's) countries than to pick up and go help. Stay home, white people. If you are burning to help, help your neighbors by agitating for justice, voting for politicians who will fight for equality for all, subscribing to AOC's Instagram feed and be awake to all the ways you hurt people of color in your daily behavior!

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

This lovely, compact novel was a delight to read, and a great pick for book clubs. Told in alternating points of view, this is a story of two sisters who are more different than alike in their complicated responses to the death of their brother that ended their happy ex-pat childhood in India and broke their family apart. It’s also a story about tigers and community and survival and the stories we tell ourselves.

Sarah, the younger sister, is a divorced, disillusioned journalist who decides to move to India to save the tigers. Umm, best unintentional Eat Pray Love move EVER. Who hasn’t wanted to quit her life and go save the tigers? Evidently, Quinn, the older sister. As her kids reach the same age as the brother who died, Sarah’s move to India triggers Quinn like crazy.

Unlike many sister stories, this one is thankfully free of a good sister/bad sister agenda. We all got our issues, girls. So do the tigers, and all the people who live around the tigers. I was as emotionally invested in the tiger Machli’s drama as I was with the sisters. There’s a strong you-go-girl vibe to this book, and no easy answers. Pick it up for the tigers, and you’ll be surprised at how much more is there.

[Jill Dobbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 Bengal tigers while finding love along the way.

Three Ways to Disappear 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.

[Kitty Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so rich and delicious I gained 5 lbs. reading it and I’m not even mad. What a sumptuous tale of tigers, forbidden love, broken families, grief, and sisterhood on two continents. Yocom does a marvelous job describing the issues facing conservation in India and dropping some mad interesting tiger facts against a heartbreaking tale that burns as slow and sensual as a stick of incense. READ THIS BOOK!

[Maryam Rz.]

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the publisher, Ashland Creek Press!

Wow! I'm unbelievably excited for this Multicultural Women's Fiction :)

Leaving behind a nomadic and dangerous career as a journalist, Sarah DeVaughan returns 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 be Sarah's undoing.

As Sarah faces challenges in her new job—made complicated by complex local politics and a forbidden love—Quinn copes with their mother's refusal to talk about the past, her son's life-threatening illness, and her own increasingly troubled marriage. When Sarah asks Quinn to join her in India, Quinn realizes that the only way to overcome the past is to return to it, and it is in this place of stunning natural beauty and hidden danger that the sisters can finally understand the ways in which their family has disappeared—from their shared history, from one another—and recognize that they may need to risk everything to find themselves again.

With dramatic urgency, a powerful sense of place, and a beautifully rendered cast of characters revealing a deep understanding of human nature in all its flawed glory, Katy Yocom has created an unforgettable novel about saving all that is precious, from endangered species to the indelible bonds among family.

[Alexandra WhimsyPages · Rating 5 out of 5]

...there was Machli, lying at the lakeside, regal in repose. Shaggy and thin as she was, she was still glorious.

.

In this brilliant debut novel, Katy Yocom brings us closer to the fatal reality of the extinction of Bengal tigers, layering her novel with intricate family relationships, and emotionally-gripping journey of two sisters, Sarah and Quinn.

«Three Ways to Disappear» is by far one of the best Literary Fiction books of this year! With such a powerful first novel, Katy Yocom instantly became my new favorite author, and I can’t wait to see what else she will come up with in the future.

There are books that just tell a story. And then there are others that make you live that story together with the characters. «Three Ways to Disappear» is a perfect example of the novel that grips the reader from the very first pages with its seamless writing, real characters, and eye-opening experience.

Winner of Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature, «Three Ways to Disappear» is a magnificent representation of the difficult survival of Bengal tigers. As I was reading this book, I felt present at every sighting of the tigers. I worried about their well-being, for their complicated relationship with the villagers around the Ranthambore National park, and I felt outraged for the crimes committed against these marvelous creatures.

Just over 300 pages, this books managed to break my heart, to make me hope and to increase my heart rate with worry for the main characters. It has been a very long time since I felt so invested in the story and in the fate of the characters. I loved Sarah and her courageous spirit. I loved Quinn and her desperate need to protect. Their lives weren’t perfect, they made mistakes, they struggled, and for those 4-5 hours that it took for me to read the book, they were the real people whose story I followed very closely.

The little secrets that Katy Yocom hid in the plot, made for the great incentive to keep reading this book even faster. What actually happened on that fateful day? Whose fault was it and does it really matter?

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully written, rich novel encompassing an American family's life changing tragedy, Bengal Tiger conservation, empowering women, a romance, and most interesting was being transported to India and learning much about the lives and customs of a local community.

[Janelle Fila · Rating 4 out of 5]

The setting and the stories about the tigers are so magnificent in this book, you could read it for that alone. I absolutely fell in love with India and had my heart wrenched out by the constant struggles of its people, the conservationists, and the tigers. To be that dependent and affected by mother nature and poverty really made me stop and reflect on my own life (and all of the things I am grateful for!) I really enjoyed Sarah's story and her connection with these big, beautiful tigers (and their plight).

But it was sister Quinn that I find myself gravitating toward. While her story was more mundane back in quiet Louisville, I found myself relating to her lifestyle more. While Sarah is off in India on a grand adventure, rescuing baby tigers and setting up a women's initiative to help the local women earn money, Quinn was at home worrying about her children and her fragile marriage. This story line was not as exciting or rich in scenic detail, but I loved it because I could relate to it. I understood it. I've maybe even lived a moment or two of it.

It's taken me a few days to digest the ending of this novel and I'm sure readers will have a lot to say about it. But that's what I love about reading-- the dialogue that comes about after two people have finished and story and want to discuss what they loved about it and what they wished had happened differently. I liked that the overall tone was honest and realistic. The family members are warned. They might get the answers they are looking for, but it won't make them any happier. I think that's a good life lesson.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah has recently left journalism due to her frustration at not being able to do more than just tell a story. The forced abandonment her profession demands, the development of whatever it is journalists grow, to enable them to walk away, move on to the next story.

So she returns to the country where she spent her early childhood, where mysteries about their time there still remain. India. She joins a tiger protection organisation and helps raise awareness of the issues of a community, where humans, their animals and wildlife compete for scarce resources, land and water.

Her twin bother Marcus died in India of cholera when they were children, her mother fled with Sarah and her sister Quinn, back to America. All three of them have different perspectives on what happened that day, and Sarah's move back there will help unravel the shadow that has remained with them all.

Three Ways - sickness, accident, violence
Three Ways - hunted, starvation, genetic extinction

It's a thought provoking novel that looks at how our environment has changed as species are hunted into extinction, how overpopulation and the need to survive means that humans compete with wildlife for scarce resources and how cross cultural alliances can be sabotaged by those whose worldview favours domination or nurtured by those seeking partnership.

I'm still thinking about the meaning of the title as it can be interpreted in a number of ways that aren't made clear in the text, but it made me think about how humans disappear and how animal species disappear.

It took me a while to get into the book and there was some discomfort for me around the 'white saviour' aspect to it, and although the character had spent some of her childhood in India, she didn't feel natural to the environment, nor was her presence really appreciated, she was seen as another threat, as her first published photograph proved. Equally the love story.

It reminded me a lot of reading The Tusk That Did the Damage, a novel set in South India that explores the moral complexities of the ivory trade through the eyes of a poacher, a documentary filmmaker and an elephant.

This book won the Siskiyou Prize for New Environmental Literature and is published by Ashland Creek Press, who publish books that foster an appreciation for worlds outside our own, for nature and the animal kingdom, for the creative process, and for the ways in which we connect."

[Mary Popham · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book was like noticing the array of colors and details of a celebrated painting, thanks to its vivid and lyrical language, while also embracing all the emotions it makes you feel. In this case, there was hope, love, and a deep sense of loss.

The characters are authentic, real to the point that I found myself wondering how certain ones are handling life now.

This book also does a superb job of handling cultural expectations and issues with care and sensitivity. The author made them all relatable.

If you’re looking for a book that is not only a page turner, but also one that grips and transports you into an experience that somehow is uniquely yours, this book is a must read. Even if that isn’t what you usually read, get this book. You won’t regret it.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Theresa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘A critically endangered top predator, the linchpin of entire ecosystems.’

Those who have been following along for a while now might have picked up on my love for eco-literature. You might have also seen a gravitational lean towards books featuring tigers. Three Ways To Disappear is the first novel I’ve had the pleasure of reading that combines these two interests: an environmental read about saving tigers, and it’s also set in India, a place I love to read about – it’s as if the universe whispered into Katy Yocom’s ear and compelled her to write my ideal novel.

‘“Everything is connected,” Sanjay said. “Protecting the tiger will protect every species of animal and plant that shares its habitat. The trees that scrub pollution from the air and the rivers that supply water to every living thing.”
“So to save the tiger is to save all of nature,” Jai said. “Including us.”’

I adored this novel. It more than lived up to my expectations. I’m not going to compare it to other recent eco-literature releases or to the works of other great novelists that write to these themes because in all honesty, Three Ways To Disappear is in a class of its own. The author is clearly passionate and knowledgeable about her subject and setting, but she has the skill as a writer to translate this into highly readable fiction. The reader is given a complete picture of what is happening in India to tigers, what’s being done to protect them and increase their numbers in the wild, and what the holistic challenges are – globally.
Three Ways To Disappear is not only a novel about tigers though. It’s also a story about a fractured family, two sisters who lost each other along the way from childhood to adulthood and need to find their way back to each other before they can fully experience everything their own lives have to offer. It’s about growing up in India as a westerner and longing for it once you’re wrenched away. It’s about cross-cultural love, grief, parental worry, marriage, being a daughter and a sister, trying to figure out who you are and what you want – connections, between people and nature.

‘It was too much. “You know what? If you think I’m making Nick smaller by worrying about him, you ought to see how small people get when they die. They just vanish, and it’s a sick fucking joke that life goes on and on and on without them. Every second of my life since then has been an insult to him. And you know what? It never goes away. The hole he left is always there. Do you understand that? It is still there. It’s the fucking stencil of my life.”’

I have so much love for this novel and would recommend it in a heartbeat. It’s a magnificent tribute to tigers, to India, and to the power of humanity when focused in on improving the lives of others along with preserving wildlife and protecting nature. India just comes to life within these pages, the beauty and despair, existing side by side. This novel travelled down rivers I never expected it to. Three Ways To Disappear may be Katy Yocom’s debut novel but she is no novice when it comes to writing. The way she connected humans and tigers within this novel was masterful. There is one particular scene near the end of the novel, that despite its tragedy, was uniquely uplifting for the possibilities it confirmed – that animals and humans can, have and do connect.

Thanks is extended to Ashland Creek Press and Smith Publicity Inc. via NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Three Ways To Disappear for review.

[Eve · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[eyes.2c · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[Arun · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am generally a fan of any novel about animals - especially megafauna such as tigers. So of course “Three Ways to Disappear “ enticed me. It is certainly a very entertaining book and - if in any way - it contributes to the efforts to preserve the tigers of India, who are threatened by the voracious Chinese desire for these products which are believed to have aphrodisiac and medicinal properties in traditional Chinese medicine, then kudos. However the author espouses the sort of post colonial feminism which suggests that white women are the savior of ignorant Asian women. This narrative ignores - at great peril - the effects of Imperialism on post colonial societies. I have been to Ranthambore and seen the magnificent daughter of Machli ( the tigress who is central to this story) in all her magnificence. I have also met the local villagers - many of whom are now enlisted in the tiger preservation efforts and indeed serve as guides. This novel does them a great disservice- especially the women who are rescued from their plight by a flaky troubled white woman from Louisville. It’s insulting. I gave it three stars for it’s important environmental message. But the writing is mediocre and the narrative tone deaf.

[Deidre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure I know the author and read part of this book years ago when it was in draft. However, had I just picked this up in a store, I believe I would be equally enthralled. Katy's writing is rich in the details that make great travel writing while not stinting on the emotion that truly carries this book. It's a story not just of the issues facing nature's relationship with mankind but also concerns of wildlife preservation, emerging economies, and women's rights. Generally tackling so many large themes would seem overwhelming but this book packages them all inside a story that is gripping and heartfelt. The book tackles loss from so many angles but what remains isn't the sadness but instead a sense of the persistence of life, which despite all things always moves forward.

[Heather Fineisen · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Lynn Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read

I liked the background on tiger ecology and the descriptions of the local culture, including the conflict between human and tiger survival needs.
Beautifully written and plotted. I enjoyed every page of this book!

[Heather Wyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, captivating and enlightening story.