Kayla Maiuri

Mother in the Dark by Kayla Maiuri is a 2022 Riverhead Books publication.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading this book, but I certainly didn’t expect this type of story. It is one I’ve had to let swirl around in my head for a bit before my mind could land on a firm decision on how I felt about it.

This novel is moody, bleak, and melancholy, but it somehow takes hold of the reader, and demands your undivided attention, even when you desperately want an escape. It holds one in a vise grip, while you gasp for air in a nearly claustrophobic panic, but then it slowly releases the tension, so that you can feel the bitter cold, see and hear the birds, and then quite suddenly, the connections click into place, and then one is left to ponder the wonder of this journey.

This is a novel is a strong examination of family, mental illness, coping mechanisms, and mother/daughter/sister dynamics. It is compulsively readable, despite the weighty dramas, and the emotional conclusion leaves a very strong impression that will stick with you long after you turn that final page…… (meer)