The Other Mother
A Novel
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4.1 • 38 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author
“An atmospheric and harrowing tale, richly literary in complexity but ripe with all the crazed undertones, confusions, and forebodings inherent in the gothic genre. Recommend this riveting, du Maurier–like novel to fans of Jennifer McMahon.” — Booklist (starred review)
From the author of the internationally bestselling The Lake of Dead Languages comes a gripping novel about madness, motherhood, love, and trust.
When Daphne Marist and her infant daughter, Chloe, pull up the gravel drive to the home of Daphne’s new employer, it feels like they’ve entered a whole new world. Tucked in the Catskills, the stone mansion looks like something out of a fairy tale, its lush landscaping hiding the view of the mental asylum just beyond its border. Daphne secured the live-in position using an assumed name and fake credentials, telling no one that she’s on the run from a controlling husband who has threatened to take her daughter away.
Daphne’s new life is a far cry from the one she had in Westchester where, just months before, she and her husband welcomed little Chloe. From the start, Daphne tries to be a good mother, but she’s plagued by dark moods and intrusive thoughts that convince her she’s capable of harming her own daughter. When Daphne is diagnosed with Post Partum Mood Disorder, her downward spiral feels unstoppable—until she meets Laurel Hobbes.
Laurel, who also has a daughter named Chloe, is everything Daphne isn’t: charismatic, sophisticated, fearless. They immediately form an intense friendship, revealing secrets to one another they thought they’d never share. Soon, they start to look alike, dress alike, and talk alike, their lives mirroring one another in strange and disturbing ways. But Daphne realizes only too late that being friends with Laurel will come at a very shocking price—one that will ultimately lead her to that towering mansion in the Catskills where terrifying, long-hidden truths will finally be revealed....
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Daphne Marist, the unreliable narrator of this chilling tale from Goodman (The Widow's House), takes her baby and flees her domineering husband for a job as live-in archivist for elusive author Schuyler Bennett, whose Catskills mansion borders the grounds of a psychiatric institution. Daphne has a secret, though. The name and background she's provided to Schuyler belong to her friend Laurel Hobbes, whom she met at a Westchester support group for new mothers. Excerpts from both women's journals describe an obsessive friendship in which their identities blurred together until Daphne's climactic decision to leave. Either Daphne's postpartum depression has led to a complete break with reality, or else she's the target of a sinister plot and only an elderly woman, confined to the institution for 45 years after abandoning her own baby, can help her discover the truth. Despite sometimes troubling depictions of mental illness and an implausible coincidence at the center of the plot, this engrossing novel will keep readers eagerly turning the pages.
Customer Reviews
Cleverly Crafted
The Other Mother is an intense psychological thriller. It’s confusing and disturbing, but fascinating. Nothing in this book is what it appears to be. There are many twists and surprises throughout the novel. All the pieces, though, do come together in the end.
Daphne Marist and Laurel Hobbs met in a support group for women suffering from intrusive thoughts and postpartum psychosis/depression. The two women became fast friends, confiding in one another their deepest thoughts and fears. Laurel encouraged Daphne to sharpen her appearance. Daphne readily agreed and changed her hairstyle, clothes, accessories, and behavior, to match her new, more confident friend, Laurel Hobbs. Their intense friendship, however, crumbled. Did their husbands sabotage it, or did they break it themselves?
When Daphne’s life began to spin out of control, she split from her husband and took infant Chloe with her. Daphne headed for the Catskills where a job awaited her. She started her new life under the assumed name, Laurel Hobbs. It was there, however, where Daphne’s chaotic world turned into a never-ending nightmare. A world where layers of deceit and betrayals were exposed.
The Other Mother is a cleverly crafted thriller, where cunning characters come to life. A word of caution to the reader, Postpartum Psychosis/Depression, Intrusive Thoughts, suicide and Borderline Personality, are addressed in this intriguing, dark novel.
Thank you, William Morrow Publishing and Edelweiss, for my advanced review copy.