Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Critically acclaimed author Goodman has written more than a dozen novels, often blending various genres with literary fiction. She does so again in the story of Daphne Marist, who is having a difficult time dealing with life after the birth of her daughter, Chloe. Diagnosed with postpartum mood disorder, she joins a support group, where she meets Laurel Hobbes, also lost in a downward spiral since delivering her daughter, coincidentally named Chloë (but with an umlaut). Their burgeoning friendship, extreme fears, and seemingly irrational resentments are related through their journal entries. Daphne eventually becomes obsessed with the idea that her husband is trying to take her baby away, prompting her to assume Laurel's identity, and runs away with Chloë to a towering stone mansion in the Catskills (the one right by the mental asylum!), where she has secured a live-in position. 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.--Murphy, Jane Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Daphne Marist meets Laurel Hobbes at a new mother's group, where they discover both their babies are named Chloe. This tenuous connection is enough to bring the two women together in the foggy days of new motherhood. The overtones of Greek myth carry on throughout the twisty plot involving mistaken identities, madness, and motherly love. Eventually, Daphne takes Chloe and flees her controlling husband, finding a temporary job as a writer's private secretary under an assumed name. Her employer's country home backs onto a psychiatric hospital, which Daphne's father had once run. This institution looms large both in imagination and reality, especially once Daphne is accused of really being Laurel and is committed as a patient. She begins questioning her own sense of reality, even while finding allies among the staff and other inmates. Goodman's (The Lake of Dead Languages) characteristic gothic elements-an isolated country house, academics, women in danger-meld especially well with the untrustworthy spouses and endangered children of domestic suspense. Secrets from the past are played out just slowly enough to tantalize the reader, but are complex enough to create a believable plot. VERDICT An engaging read that will appeal to readers of Shari Lapena or Michelle Richmond.-Melanie Kindrachuk, Stratford P.L., Ont. © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Assuming her best friend's identity, Daphne Marist flees her home and husband, infant daughter in tow, for the sanctuary of a remote mansion, secretly taking a job as a live-in archivist for her favorite author.The book's first-person narrative opens right into Daphne's fractured memories, so it isn't immediately clear to the reader why she needs refugebut Goodman (The Widow's House, 2017, etc.) lays intriguing clues, including a soaked baby blanket and inexplicable light signals. Once ensconced in Schuyler Bennett's mansion, tucked away in the Catskills and next door to a mental asylum, Daphne sorts the puzzle pieces. She met Laurel Hobbes in a support group for new mothers battling postpartum depression. They bonded quicklyafter all, they had a lot in common, including infant daughters named Chloe and difficult relationships with their older husbands. Soon Daphne and Laurel have similar clothes, haircuts, and gym habits. Meanwhile, Daphne's husband, Peter, questions whether Daphne is mentally stable. Has she fully recovered from her attempt to overdose shortly after Chloe's birth? Remembering little more than his hands on her shoulders, shaking her awake in the bathtub, Daphne can only rely on Peter's version of the story. Meanwhile, Laurel's hold on reality begins disintegrating, and her husband, Stan, confides in Daphne that Laurel, too, has battled mental illness. In Schuyler's archives, Daphne discovers records for Edith Sharp, an inmate at the asylum who, 40 years ago, also suffered from postpartum depression and was treated by Schuyler's father. Edith's life seems to have inspired Schuyler's short story "The Changeling." Curious, Daphne visits the asylum, where she finds herself caught up in a nefarious plot that may cost her her very sanity. In the spirit of Du Maurier's Rebecca, Goodman has concocted a labyrinthine tale of tangled identities, and every twist of the plot exposes more ghosts from the past preying on the present.A Gothic thriller deliciously riddled with dark motives and shadowy paths. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
