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About the Author
Efrem Sigel’s first novel, The Kermanshah Transfer,
a novel of Middle Eastern intrigue, came out in 1973. Now, 35 years
later, The Disappearance is being published by The Permanent
Press. He’s begun work on a third novel, and none too soon.
“Given the long hiatus between
novels,” he jokes, “I need to get going now if I want to finish it
before my 100th birthday.”
Efrem has been a journalist, editor and founder, with his wife
Frederica, of two business publishing companies. He is the author of
four nonfiction books about communications technology, hundreds of
magazine and newsletter articles, and, in recent years, a score of
published short stories. The stories, which he began publishing in
the late 90s, have won a number of prizes and have garnered six
Pushcart nominations from various literary magazines where they have
appeared.
Efrem is a member of the Pelham Jewish Center, the Appalachian
Mountain Club, the Green Mountain Club, the Trustees of the
Reservations and the Monday Mountain Boys in western Massachusetts.
Hiking, walking, tennis and other outdoor activities are his favorite
pastimes. Long-time residents of New Rochelle, NY, Efrem and his wife
Frederica now live in Greenwich Village, New York City, and in Great
Barrington, MA. They have two sons, Jonathan and Matthew, and
two
grandsons, Noah and Reuben.
He grew up in Staten Island, NY, graduated from Curtis High School and
won a National Merit Scholarship to Harvard College, from which he
graduated with an A.B. degree. He also has a MBA from Harvard
Business School. After college he spent two years as a Peace Corps
Volunteer in the Ivory Coast, where he taught English.
About the
writing of The Disappearance
"The idea for The Disappearance came to me on a perfect summer
morning not unlike the one portrayed in the opening pages of the
book," Efrem says. "The glorious day, the idyllic country setting,
the sense of foreboding and inexplicable loss—I couldn't get them out
of my head."
After selling the second of his two publishing companies in 2000, he
began in earnest to transform early drafts of The Disappearance into a finished
novel. Readers have found it to be a combination of
compelling story and seamless prose. An editor called the
writing "absolutely
exquisite"
and artist Lon Kirschner said of it, "What
a beautifully and sensitively written book! It makes me want to hug
my sons."
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