Spotlight: Three Ways to Disappear by Katy Yocom

Three Ways to Disappear

by

Katy Yocom

HUNTING FOR CONNECTION, HAUNTED BY LOSS: IN DEBUT NOVEL, HUMANS—AND TIGERS—STRIVE TO CONNECT AND STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE IN A CONFLICTED NATURAL WORLD 

Publisher: Ashland Creek Press 
Publication date: 16th July 2019
Sub genre: EcoFiction 
Pages: 300
RRP: $18.95 USD

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.

Praise for Three Ways to Disappear: 

“Sensual and sensory, lush with longing, Three Ways to Disappear is an assured and lovely debut novel.  You'll find yourself luxuriating in its language and carried away by its complex and endearing characters.  There isn't one wasted word, and I loved them all”  -- Silas House, author of Southernmost  

What is Ecofiction?

Ecofiction is fiction with a conscience.
Also known as eco-literature, these books range from mysteries to thrillers, yet they all share strong environmental themes.

As a child, I was fascinated with big cats of all types. I thought I outgrew that fascination, but when a tigress at the Louisville Zoo gave birth to a litter of cubs, I instantly fell in love, visited frequently, and watched them grow up,” Yocom says of her inspiration for the novel. “I knew that in the wild, tigers face long odds, and the complexity of the human-tiger relationship captured my imagination. I’ve always been drawn to stories confronting the big questions: life, death, how we carry on in the face of loss, what it means to be truly connected to someone, and what it takes to heal broken relationships.