Madwoman
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3.5 • 2 Ratings
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- €9.99
Publisher Description
'Chelsea Bieker breathes thrilling, risky energy into the familiar trope of the madwoman... A well-paced and absorbing page-turner.' New York Times
CLOVE HAS BUILT HER DREAM LIFE. IT'S ABOUT TO COME CRASHING DOWN.
Everything appears to be going pretty well for Clove. She's built a stable family home in Portland, she has a handsome husband who encourages her to pursue her dream of writing, and her two kids are pretty adorable. Sure, she dabbles in a low-level shopping addiction and is racking up a not-so-funny amount of credit card debt, but who doesn't have a vice or two?
But when a letter arrives from a women's prison in California, Clove's past comes hurtling into her new life. Soon, she is caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse as she desperately tries to outrun her worst experiences.
Raw and hilarious, Madwoman is a story about resilience, courage, and one woman's refusal to be defined by a past she would rather forget.
'A truly stunning read – this is my book of the year.' Ella Berman
A Time Magazine 'Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The uneven latest from Bieker (Godshot) blends psychological thriller tropes with a meditation on motherhood. On the surface, protagonist Clove leads a picture-perfect life: she's a mother of two, her husband works in finance, and she's often seen pushing her double stroller around their tony neighborhood in Portland, Ore. Clove's parents died in a car accident when she was 17, or so she's told her trusting husband. The truth, she admits to the reader, is that their life is built on a "foundation of lies" she told him on their first date. But when a letter from Clove's mother arrives from the California women's prison where she's serving time for the murder of Clove's father, Clove's flawless life threatens to unravel. Scenes from the present day alternate with chapters from Clove's childhood in Waikiki, Hawaii, where her father would often beat her mother, sometimes to the point that she coughed up blood. Bieker builds suspense by parsing out key bits of information, though some of the twists strain credulity and veer into melodrama. She's better with the character work, especially in her exploration of how Clove's childhood trauma causes her to worry she'll be deemed unfit for parenthood. It's a mixed bag.
