Margaret Small is an American lesbian activist and was noted for teaching Lesbianism 101 with Madeline Davis at the State University of New York Buffalo. [1] This is the first lesbianism course in the United States. [1] Small was also a civil rights activist. There are some plot points, mainly about Margaret’s younger years, that are brushed off hastily. I would have loved some more details on these gaps. Marga is one of the most brimming-with-life people I have ever known. Sometimes it felt as though she was constantly in motion, rushing off somewhere with her folding bicycle, bemoaning the complexities of childcare and commuting arrangements, but at the same time she managed to make time for everybody, and was a meticulous and demanding perfectionist. She was always the first to volunteer to help out if she could: for example when I moved house during term time, she was ready to step in and take on teaching and marking for me. She had strong views on subjects like the importance of timed examinations as a form of assessment, and on the availability of opportunities for students to learn languages. She was certainly not infallible, frequently losing or misplacing her keys, her phone, her train pass, and technology was one of her most significant bêtes noires– when the university introduced a new online system for marking student work, in the early stages Marga’s computer managed to lose her painstakingly-typed comments with alarming regularity. The frequency of her Facebook updates was only matched by their poor spelling and grammar – as she told me once, this was one concession to her busy schedule: proof-reading was for her professional life, but Facebook was for fun. Far from being exhausted by all of the commuting, running, cycling, research, writing, teaching, administration, coffees, lunches, world book day costumes, music, reading, and travel, though, she seemed to thrive on it. And it was clear that at the centre of her world was her family – Joel, Clara, Douglas, her parents, her siblings – and her faith. It’s not a faith I share, but it’s certainly one I admire, and it drove her to live the kind of life that anybody would be immensely proud to live. Everybody who knew Marga was enriched by the experience, and in losing her in her prime, so suddenly and unexpectedly, we are all diminished: but we are better people for having known her, and her memory and example will live on undimmed. Funny, sad and uplifting all at once, The Vanishing of Margaret Small by @neilalexander_ is a terrific story, with a twist I didn’t see coming and a heroine who’ll stay in my mind for a long time. Recommended‘. Frances Quinn, author of The Smallest Man and That Bonesetter Woman

Her story takes a few unforeseen directions (and some you can see coming). It's a good look into some hard truths about our social care system. And ultimately an uplifting story about a woman treated badly but coming out the other side with her dignity and humour intact.

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We lost an incredible friend and colleague and my thoughts are with Joel, Clara and Douglas, who lost so much more. Margaret Small was "vanished” to a long-term care facility for children with learning disabilities when she was seven years old by the Rat Catcher (Mr. Gray). She had been living with her maternal grandmother prior to being "vanished". Can you even imagine sending a young child away to an institution? My heart broke for her. During Marga’s appointment process, she impressed everybody during her presentation with her research topic, the history of exploration, but most of all with her language ability. Latin, ancient Greek, Spanish, Italian, French and bits of German amongst them. Whenever we met, she usually greeted me with a friendly ‘Wie gehts?’. These two words and the tone in which she asked expressed Marga’s whole personality: genuine, warm and interested. This is how I experienced her as a colleague, without any sense of attitude or entitlement, totally reliable and always willing to help and do her part in the School’s routine work and events. To resolve the mystery, we are also given a glimpse of another timeline beginning from 1947, when little Margaret was first ‘vanished” into a long-stay institution for children with learning disabilities.

There are some memorable secondary characters as well, both good and bad. Wayne was among my favourites. On behalf of the National Maritime Museum: Sally Archer, Research & Heritage Partnerships Manager, and former Director of Research Dr Margarette Lincoln a b Pohl, Nicole (2001). "Review of Circles otf Power: Shifting Dynamics in a Lesbian-centered Community". Utopian Studies. 12 (2): 301–303. ISSN 1045-991X. At work I came to know Marga best through things like open days and OVDs and the long committee meetings involved with things like the curriculum review working group. Those unsung and unseen things which people often try to avoid but to which Marga seemed to instinctively gravitate. And so I have thought about what it means to be a good citizen, what it is that keeps our work going, and how we value those things.I did not always agree with Marga's answers on issues around assessment and pedagogy, but I have always known that she was asking the right questions - however difficult or challenging or unwelcome I might have found those questions at the time. It is a small example, but I don't think we would have made the progress we have with our DL programmes if it had not been for Marga's tenacity and insistence on lifting the bonnet to see exactly what was going on. Importantly, I have always known that those questions have been underpinned by Marga's unswerving commitment to doing the right thing by our students and our community.We are diminished by Marga's loss - in ways that are incomprehensible right now - but we have been privileged to know and learn from her.Since that chilly winter, we have followed her career with interest, and have been devastated to learn of her passing. Margaret tells her story over two timelines. She is now in her 70s and living in a flat and supervised by her support worker, Wayne. Wayne is a lovely, caring person, fully invested in enabling Margaret to live her best possible life. We need more Waynes in this world. Waseem Ahmed, former History BA and Early Modern History MA at University of Birmingham, presently History PhD, UCL I've read similar books before (Grace Henderson Says it Loud) but Margaret makes an eloquent narrator and her story has extra dimensions outside of the 'care home' scenario, that make this a touching and rather memorable audiobook. She cared so much about the students and the staff and would always stop for a chat, no matter how busy she was. I will miss her a lot.