by Laura Smith
Roy Wilson Follett reading to Barbara, circa 1916.
Barbara Follett as a child.
Barbara in the woods around the time she wrote her first novel, The House Without Windows.
An undated photo of Barbara at her typewriter. Wilson said he taught her to type when she was three years old; Helen that she taught her when she was five.
Barbara and her sister Sabra on Lake Sunapee, circa 1924. The Folletts spent many happy summers in a rented cabin on the lake. The place was particularly significant to Barbara, who loved canoeing, hiking, and swimming with her father there.
A hand corrected proof of The House Without Windows, published in 1926 when Barbara was twelve. The handwritten edits are most likely Wilson’s.
Barbara in the White Mountains in 1926.
Barbara aboard the Vigilant in 1929. It was on this journey that she met Ed Anderson, the shipmate with whom she carried on a romantic correspondence for many years.
Barbara and Helen during their South Seas voyage (1929 or 1930) after Wilson abandoned the family. The trip was tumultuous, with mother and daughter fighting often. Helen recalled their adventure fondly in her books Stars to Steer By and Magic Portholes, which Barbara edited. Their letters present a darker story.
Helen Thomas Follett, circa 1935.
Alice Russell and Barbara in Pasadena, California, circa 1930. Though there were decades between them, Alice, a thriller writer, was one of Barbara’s closest friends and correspondents.
In the year before she vanished, Barbara and her husband Nickerson Rogers were often apart. Nick, shown here in a 1938 issue of Life magazine, worked as a technician at Polaroid, which required him to travel all over the country. That same year, she vacationed without him—a fact he would later cite when filing for divorce.
Barbara camping with Nick Rogers in Maine during the summer of 1932. Barbara left her job in New York at the height of the Depression to spend four months hiking in the newly formed Appalachian Trail.
The last known photograph of Barbara, date unknown.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am grateful to the faculty and students at the New York University Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, especially those from the Literary Reportage and Cultural Reporting and Criticism programs. Thanks to the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, especially the editors in the Literary Journalism program, Charlotte Gill, Ian Brown, and Victor Dwyer, and the 2015 residency cohort. Many thanks to Katie Roiphe, my mentor, and to my agent, Flip Brophy, and my editor, Joy de Menil, for your commitment to this project. For research help, many thanks to Paul Collins, Marissa Bourgain, Conor McCourt, the Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library staff, and especially to Stefan Cooke, Barbara’s nephew and most dedicated biographer. To my friends and early draft readers, Anneke Rautenbach, Maddie Gressel, Robert Downey, and Michael Lista. Many thanks to Gabby and Tata. Many, many thanks to Mom, Dad, and Jenny. And to P.J.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LAURA SMITH’s writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, and Mother Jones. She worked on The Art of Vanishing while on a fellowship at the Banff Arts Centre. She lives in Oakland, California.
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*Both “Melissa” and “Carol” are pseudonyms.
*Minor details of this friend’s story have been changed to protect his privacy.
*Beverly Potts’s disappearance is considered one of Cleveland’s most famous cold cases. In 1951, the ten-year-old went to a park with a friend. The friend left early and Potts was never seen again.
*Richard A. Friedman, “Infidelity Lurks in Your Genes,” New York Times, May 22, 2015.
*See Terry McShane, “The Case of the Butterfly Girl,” St. Petersburg Times, April 11, 1943.