MOTHERED

A young woman questions her sanity after she's forced to cohabit with her estranged mother.

When Grace, a happily single 30-something who enjoys her job as a hairdresser and the independence she has gained from living alone in Pittsburgh, gets a call from her mother, Jackie, who wants to move in with her during the Covid pandemic, she is not thrilled. She and her mother have not been close since the death of her disabled twin sister, Hope, nearly 20 years earlier. But her mother needs her assistance, and with her income slashed because of the stay-at-home order, Grace needs help paying her mortgage, so she reluctantly agrees. The two coexist relatively peacefully for a while, the atmosphere sometimes pleasant but more often claustrophobic and oppressive. Just as it seems the two women might reconcile, Grace starts to have trouble sleeping, and soon, nightmares take over her entire unconscious life. When they begin to seep in during the day as well, she starts to question her own mental state as well as her mother's, and both she and the reader start to wonder if her sanity is connected to her mother's presence and what is really going on in that house. Amid her intense newfound insomnia, her mother makes a startling accusation, and things take a turn for the worse. The tense relationship between Grace and Jackie is well drawn and relatable. Though the nightmares sometimes get repetitive and take up too much space, the overarching plot and unreliable narrative voice—written in the third person but very close to Grace's perspective—make this a disturbing yet addictive read.

This compelling book will keep you wondering what is real and what is madness.