The Disappeared

The Disappeared is a story of our times, of kidnap and rescue, of abuse and healing. It is the story of Stephen, a teacher whose love for the pupil who shares his dreams brings him face to face with ruin; of Sharon, the child of a feckless stepmother, and her criminal abusers; of Laura, the investigative high-flyer, now faced with rape and sexual slavery; of Justin, environmentalist and Heavy Metal fan, whose obsession with Muhibbah, rescued from forced marriage, spells disaster for them both. It is the story of a police force fearful of charges of racism, and a social worker, Iona, expected to make a viable community from fragments that will not join.

With dizzying speed The Disappeared uncovers the chaotic underworld of a Yorkshire city, its characters eventually stumbling across one another in a single catastrophe. A victim may bring redemption: but who will it be?

Roger Scruton is a writer and philosopher, author of over forty books including several works of fiction. He has taught in London and Boston universities, and been visiting professor elsewhere in Britain and America, but now lives as a free-lance writer in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. His recent books include Notes from Underground (a novel) and The Soul of the World. Roger Scruton is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.