The story centres around Clove, a stay-at-home mum of two. She is committed to an organic, health-obsessed lifestyle. She’s highly creative but instead of sharpening her professional writing skills, she imagines endless catastrophic scenarios about her children’s safety.
Everything unravels when she receives a letter from her mother, who is in prison and has finally tracked her down. Clove begins to lose control of her carefully curated life. She meets Jane and quickly becomes obsessed with befriending her. Jane manipulates and exploits Clove and her anxiety is magnified.
Clove must do whatever it takes to stop her mother from revealing the truth. She’s worked too hard to build the life she has now, and she won’t let anything jeopardise it. But Jane keeps digging into Clove’s past, pushing her out of her comfort zone and pressuring her to help Jane become a mother. But how can Clove help someone else become a mother when she’s barely managing her own motherhood, and her real mother is crying out for help?
This is a story where the rage, fear and anxiety are palpable; a story that is dark, suspenseful and terrifying. It is slow moving throughout but still enthralling and dynamic. The prose is very literary, which might be an issue for some readers expecting a thriller. It is a thriller with its dark, psychological undertones but I don’t feel the blurb matches the content.
I was trapped and intrigued from the first page of this book. It’s a skilfully crafted suspenseful novel with beautiful prose.
Reviewed by Nicola Skinstad
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chelsea Bieker is the author of three books, most recently the nationally bestselling novel, Madwoman, a Book of the Month club pick the New York Times calls “brilliant in its depiction of the long shadows cast by domestic violence.”
Her first novel, Godshot, was longlisted for The Center For Fiction’s First Novel Prize and named a Barnes & Noble Pick of the Month. Her story collection, Heartbroke won the California Book Award and was a New York Times “Best California Book of 2022.” Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Marie Claire UK, People, The Cut, Wall Street Journal, No Tokens, and others.
She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award, as well as residencies from MacDowell and Tin House. Raised in Hawai’i and California, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two children.
0 Comments