The guilty remnants

I’m a bit obsessed with new US series The Leftovers – in fact I’d go as far as to say it’s my favourite TV show since Lost. It focuses on a small town, after a rapture-like happening where 2% of the world’s population have disappeared. Anyway, there’s a sort of commune (or possibly a cult) in the show: they dress in white and smoke a lot and upset people. They’re called The Guilty Remnant.

Why am I telling you this? Well the theme of today’s Gallery is ‘family.’ Those of you who read my feature in The Guardian a while back will know that something I’ve always struggled with was knowing my younger sister and I had grown up with our much loved daddy, while the children from his first marriage didn’t really have any contact with him (not his or my mum’s choice).

 

I’ve described my older siblings as the brother and sister I’ve never met. But over the years I have managed to glean some information about my older sister. I know that she had a son – a nephew I’ve never met, either – and that she was married at one point.

And I also know that she left her family when her son was very small and ran away to join a commune, or possibly a cult. Which is perhaps why The Leftovers has such resonance for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This crumpled newspaper cutting is a photo of my sister when she was a model. She looks so beautiful. We still have no idea where she is, or whether she’s alive or dead and it’s possible we’ll never know. When someone disappears, apparently off the face of the earth, the guilty remnants are the ones left behind.