''The Disappeared'' is a 2015 novel by the English writer

Roger Scruton Sir Roger Vernon Scruton (; 27 February 194412 January 2020) was an English philosopher and writer who specialised in aesthetics and political philosophy, particularly in the furtherance of traditionalist conservative views. Editor from 1982 t ...

. It tells the story of a schoolgirl from

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

who has become the victim of an immigrant

child grooming Child grooming is befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a minor under the age of consent, and sometimes the child's family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse. Child grooming is also regularly ...

gang. Through clues in her essay on

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's '' The Tempest'', one of her teachers learns about the situation and tries to find a way to help her. The title refers to victims of

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

as well as what Scruton describes as "the disappearance from our society of the old ideas of authority, the old religion, the old sense of belonging". Scruton based the novel on his experiences from the

Ray Honeyford Raymond Honeyford (24 February 1934, in Manchester – 5 February 2012) was a British head teacher, writer, and critic of the failures of multiculturalism. In the early 1980s, when he was headmaster of Drummond Middle School in Bradford, Yorkshi ...

affair in 1984, which he combined with details from the case of the

Oxford sex gang The Oxford child sex abuse ring was a group of 22 men who were convicted of various sexual offences against underage girls in the English city of Oxford between 1998 and 2012. Thames Valley Police launched Operation Bullfinch in May 2011 to inves ...

Reception

Julie Bindel Julie Bindel (born 20 July 1962) is an English radical feminist writer. She is also co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, which has aimed to help women who have been prosecuted for assaulting or killing violent male partners. A ...

reviewed the book for '' Standpoint'' and called it "timely" and "brave". Bindel wrote that Scruton "will no doubt be accused of

Islamophobia Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism. The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...

and

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

by those that can only hear about

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

as a force for good." Bindel wrote that the novel was not without faults: "I regularly had to check back to when a person was first introduced, to remind myself of their place in the scheme of things. The narrative is at times confusing or just too complex. But the author describes the clash of cultures, in this case of mainly Afghan migrants living in Britain, rather brilliantly. ... All his characters are flawed and complex, but Scruton attaches equal significance to his Muslim and non-Muslim characters; none is simply good or bad."

References

External links

Publicity page
at

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...

's website {{DEFAULTSORT:Disappeared 2015 British novels Child sexual abuse in literature English novels English-language novels Novels set in Yorkshire Novels by Roger Scruton Bloomsbury Publishing books Child grooming