Mother, Mother: A Novel
Zailckas, known for her biting memoirs Smashed: Story of a Drunken Girlhood (2005) and Fury: True Tales of a Girl Gone Ballistic (2010), turns to the (hopefully) fictional tale of a woman hell-bent on manipulating the world around her. Matriarch Josephine doesn’t quite have things under control the way she would prefer. Her husband is an alcoholic; her son is on the autism spectrum; her younger daughter, Violet, has just been committed to a mental hospital; and her older daughter is a runaway. But to the outside world, this extremely dysfunctional family looks practically flawless, thanks to Josephine’s well-plotted machinations. When she concocts a story meant to keep Violet locked away, it means a visit from Child Protective Services that puts the family in a spotlight, and Josephine’s carefully constructed world begins to crumble (much like the Martha Stewart scones she has ready for them upon their arrival). Josephine is a truly frightening character—realistically flawed with just the right touch of over-the-top madness—and Zailckas crafts an intriguing mystery surrounding this family that will keep readers on edge as she slowly peels back layer after layer of deception. --Rebecca Vnuk