Motherlunge (New Issues Poetry & Prose)
*Starred Review* Scott’s impressive novel about the joys and challenges of motherhood features wry, likable Thea, who lives in the shadow of her beautiful older sister, Pavia. When the two walk down the street, Thea catches their reflection in a store window and casts herself as the ugly duckling. When Thea learns that Pavia is separated from her husband, she leaves behind her small Montana hometown to come to her sister’s emotional rescue. Turns out, Pavia is pregnant, and shortly after the baby is born, she disappears, leaving a note with instructions to Thea on how to care for her child. Thea’s responsibilities for around-the-clock care trigger her own maternal impulses, and she confesses to her boyfriend, Eli, that she might like to have a baby of her own. Thea, alas, is all too aware that she possesses flawed genetic material. Her mother, Dorothy, is forever on the verge of mental collapse. In this solid first novel, Scott, winner of the 2011 AWP Prize in the Novel, renders wonderfully offbeat characters in crisp, polished prose. --Allison Block