3.5 stars! I find this book difficult to review. On one hand, it is a fascinating story about childhood trauma and a decent into mental illness. On the other hand, I question how accurate it is in portraying said mental illness.

But, I felt it was worth the read, and truly captivating, despite some of my skepticism.

I would love be to read about the author' research in writing this story! Would definitely effect my perception

2.5-ish stars. I don't know what to think of this book. I didn't like it, but I didn't not like it. Ambivalent is the best way to describe my thoughts.

The concept of the fractured mind was interesting to me, but I'm not sure if it was carried out as well as it could have -- at times it seemed overly complex, yet also overly simplified. Granted my knowledge of psychology is limited to the random courses I took as an undergrad to complete my minor, but at times I felt myself questioning how the psychologist approached things (not that I would know how it should be handled, but I just felt like some of it was really unrealistic). Something just felt off to me.

I will say that the abuse arc was very uncomfortable to read, which speaks to the writer's ability and approach. She did a great job of using the simplistic prose (since it's a child's memory) to make it uncomfortable for the reader, but without being too graphic. Usually it takes a lot for a book to make me squirm, but this one did.

There were also hints of plotlines that I thought would be more important, but were ultimately underdeveloped, like Nora's relationship with her principal/friend John. He's there at certain times, enough to make it seem like he will be vital to the story, but then he isn't...not really. If he was eliminated from the story all together, not much would change. I think there was a bit of a missed opportunity there to make that more substantial.

The ending was also a little unsettling, because it is unresolved. I both like and dislike that, but I think I would like it more if it wasn't quite as rushed. It almost felt like an afterthought, and with that type of ending it really needs to be well-executed and deliberate.

The book is not long, which I appreciate from time to time, however I still found it hard to get through. The story held my attention most of the time, despite the synopsis giving away the entire plot, but something just felt off to me. I'm not sure if it was the writing, which was very simple (but I think was the best choice for this story), or the characters. The synopsis did have me thinking it would be more of a thriller, which it absolutely is not...perhaps the publisher may want to modify the summary a bit to make it a little more clear what genre this fits into.

I also am still unclear about the hallucination manifestations. That issue seemed incomplete to me.

I think I'm not having strong feelings one way or another because it was all-around just very mediocre. It's not a poorly written, uninteresting book, but it could have been done more effectively. I was able to finish it, which is a good sign, but a year from now I won't remember reading it.

A note to the publisher/editor: I questioned some of the sentences in the book...I know advance reader copy's aren't always finalized in terms of editing, which I understand. But in this book, I wasn't sure if the things I noticed were mistakes that the editor will take care of, or if they were deliberate. I found one sentence that repeated twice (meaning the same sentence, word-for-word, appeared back-to-back in a paragraph, seemingly without reason), and there were one or two ambiguous quote attributions (not changing paragraphs when it appears there's a new speaker). Even the last sentence of the book has repetition. I'm not sure if this is because my edition isn't the final version and the editors haven't caught it yet, or if it was deliberate given the mental state of the character. The latter could certainly be an effective tool, but it needs to be clear that it isn't just an editing mistake. It doesn't happen enough to be a motif to make me think that it's intentional. If it is intentional, I would suggest making that repetition pattern occur a bit more so the reader doesn't think that it's an oversight in editing.

This book was an interesting read. Nora has to deal with the state of her marriage and events in her past. She has a lot to deal with and a lot of suppressed memories. This book was hard to read in places and I feel it dealt well with the story it told.

Nora sees a disemodied head floating about the desks in her classroom. No one else sees it. She puts it down to stress, although that really is stress. She sees it again and starts to become a bit discombobulated. She starts to see a counselor but discusses nothing of any consequence until he hears a small child's voice during one of their sessions. Nora is totally unaware of anything. I do not want to give anything away, but the book is a real page-turner, and the end................well, the end is most interesting. . I certainly would recommend it to anyone.

Good book about a very tough subject! It is not a long book, but it is a powerful story! The more you read, the more you are drawn into the story! Highly recommend!

This so wasn't the book I was expecting.  From the way it started I was expecting: Nora - middle-aged wife, mother and high school English teacher has a few domestic and career troubles, deals with them by confronting her past and lives happily ever after - with maybe a touch of the supernatural thrown in for good measure.

Not so.  Nora's story is firmly rooted in gritty reality and it doesn't make for easy reading.  Her marriage is falling around her and so's her sanity.  When she starts to hallucinate she turns to a psychiatrist, David, to help her make sense of what's going on.

It turns out that what was going on is horrific.  Gradually, in the safe haven of David's office, she starts to unravel her past.  What happened to Nora was so traumatic that her conscious mind blocked it.

As the novel progresses, we see how repressed episodes from the past can have a seismic effect on how individuals see their world.  With Nora, we revisit disturbing images from her abused childhood and experience with her the agonising journey of losing hold of what is real and what is imagined.

3.5 STARS

THE NIGHT CHILD is the story of an incredible journey made by a middle-aged high school teacher. She's not too concerned with the sudden headaches she has developed, but when she sees the floating face of a very young girl she believes she may be losing her mind. It only gets worse when she's feeling fearful about things that she has no reason to.

With a husband who is seeing another woman and her own fear reaction for her 6-year-old daughter, she decides to see a therapist. With his help, she discovers things about herself she never knew and the remarkable ability to overcome those things that take the very breath from your body.

*WARNING* This book contains sexual violence and child abuse, including fairly graphic descriptions of both. Language.

This is a very well-written debut novel. Either the author has personal experience with the subject matter or she's done an excellent job of researching. I can't say I liked the characters, but I'm sure they were written that way. The ending seemed a little off to me. Overall, it was an engaging read. I look forward to seeing more from this author.

Many thanks to the author / Blackstone Publishing / Netgalley for the advanced digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This was an interesting book, but I felt like it was all over the place.

Nora Brown is a married High School English teacher with a six year old daughter. One day after class she sees a young girl's luminous face floating above a desk. She is alarmed and scared as most people would be. Questions go through her mind: Is she crazy? Is this from stress? Is this even real? She attempts to continue with her life and then, while away with her husband and daughter, she sees the face again but this time the girl tells her to "Remember the Valentine's Dress". Now she is really alarmed and decides to see medial advice and and eventually meets with a therapist/psychiatrist.

As the story unfolds, it is obvious that Nora is an unhappy woman. Her husband is distant and working long hours. She suspects he is lying but is reluctant to question him directly his true whereabouts. She is worried about a student in her class and her therapy sessions are bringing up a lot of issues for her.

This is a quiet book with BIG issues at play. This book touches on infidelity, secrets, sexual molestation, death, mental illness and suicide. This book will not be for everyone as it touches on some really heavy issues. Having said that, I really enjoyed this book. It is a view into one woman's inner turmoil and downward spiral that occurs when her past no longer wants remain buried. Having to face her traumatic childhood, while watching her marriage fall apart, pushes this woman over the edge.

This is a short novel which packs a punch. I enjoyed the characters of Nora, David and Margaret. This book is really character driven - more so a character study of one woman's' life as everything unravels at once. This is a well written dark book. It was definitely hard to put down. I put this on my currently reading list the end of July but I actually read the entire book today in one sitting. I had to keep reading to learn how this story would unfold.

I received an ARC of this book from Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I read the book synopsis I imagined the story to be something totally different. I expected something to do with the supernatural and it is definitely not that. I was drawn in from the first few pages and had a hard time to put the book down. The story deals with emotions buried deep and surfacing when you least expect it. Anna Quinn dealt with a difficult subject without making it taboo. I wish the book was longer and that it would reveal what happened to Nora after the last words. I felt that I was let down not knowing. It is still a great book and worth reading.

I feel conflicted after reading this book, which rarely happens. The story felt so familiar, like I've read it many times before and the twist was not so surprising at all, but I loved Anna Quinn's writing. Something made me read this book in one sitting, but still, nothing surprised me or made me wonder even.

Story is about a married woman, high-school teacher, who starts having visions of a girl's head, floating and speaking. For a moment there, I was afraid that this will be a sci-fi element of the novel, but thank god, it wasn't. Everything unravels quickly after that, Nora starts going to therapy where we learn in even pace why is she seeing this girl, and what really happened so long ago.

Nothing more I can say about this. I was pretty much aloof the whole time and uninterested in characters' goal. Psychological disorders felt a little undeveloped and almost like, created from notes taken while watching a movie.

I'm still trying to process this book, a deeply disturbing read. Nora is struggling emotionally and feels she is losing her mind. We are taken into her therapy sessions and witness to the unveiling of her split personality and deep dark secret. We are treated to a well written account of what is is like to be in this state of mind. There wasn't a linear plot to this one, rather a slow unveiling of the event that caused the trauma. A deeply sad and dark read for me.

There are some major, major trigger warning on this one. I wish there had been some hint that the “big secret” was that her father sexually abused her and I also wish that it hadn’t been so graphic. I’m not sure if I’ve just gotten so used to young adult and middle grade books that handle the subject more delicately, and even though, there was a little hint of what was to come right before the secret was revealed, it was still a huge shock that it was so graphic. Even more shocking was what happened when she told the priest what happened. If you decide to read this, please keep in mind that there is nothing glossed over about the abuse Nora endured.

I can’t speak on the split consciousness rep because that’s not something I have experienced, but I did feel like the mental health rep as far as the therapist and the hospitalization felt pretty real. I’m not sure that they would have allowed Nora to be alone with anyone but other than that once incident, it was fairly accurate.

I also enjoyed Nora’s utter devotion to her daughter, even when she was going through her mental breakdown. I’ve read a lot of novels where the parent gives up caring about their child when things happen and it was interesting to see Nora working very hard to break the cycle of mother/daughter neglect that she had experienced with her own mother.

The one thing I didn’t like in this book was the continued assessment that sex = a sound marriage. I think this story would have been a 5 star for me if Paul and Nora had pulled through this together and if the author hadn’t insisted that if a married couple aren’t having sex, it means one of them are cheating. There are many, many reasons why couples stop having sex and it doesn’t mean they lack love and trust in one another or that one partner is going to cheat.

Overall, I did enjoy this book. I would not, however, recommend this to anyone who is easily hurt by sexual abuse.

This was an interesting but disturbing story. The journey taken by Nora is make for uncomfortable reading but is ultimately uplifting

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free electronic ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
“The Night Child” by Anna Quinn begins with Nora, a high school English teacher living in Seattle with her husband and six year old daughter, Fiona. During class one day, Nora begins to see the image of a young child’s face hovering in the back of her classroom, chilling Nora to her core. The face continues to haunt her dreams and her waking life, and when it begins to speak to her, Nora finally seeks out professional help. With the help of a therapist, Nora uncovers some deep secrets from her past that she has been hiding from for years. As Nora begins to examine these feelings and experiences, she begins to realize that she must face her demons or suffer the consequences.
This novel was not what I expected. I’m not sure if I was anticipating a paranormal novel, or maybe a suspense/mystery novel, but “The Night Child” was none of those things. Provocative and uncomfortable, “The Night Child” deals with dissociative identity disorder, suicidal thoughts and actions, and incest and abuse. It is definitely a disturbing novel that is not for a reader looking for a light-hearted escape.
Nora is a complex character, but she is one that is relatable and honest, and a bond develops quickly between her and the reader. As the plot went on, I ran through many possible options of where the book could go (I pondered many things from David’s influence on Nora, to Nora’s husbands’ behaviour and its impact, to a “Catcher in the Rye” type plot line) and I struck out on all three. This novel is not hiding anything, there are no surprises or twists and turns. It is exactly what it is. David is just a therapist, Nora is a troubled woman dealing with many demons, and Nora’s husband is (albeit kind of a jackass), simply a man struggling to keep his family together.
This novel was a good read, overall. The plot line was relatively developed and the characters (as few as there were) were not particularly irritating or brash. It is definitely an intense novel that cannot be taken lightly, and will have an impact on a lot of readers. The psychological part of it held my interest (Again, psychology degree over here) and it was certainly unlike anything I have ever read before. The ending was unexpected and not defined (one of those “did this happen? Or maybe this…?” kind of endings) but still, I trudged on through as I was definitely interested in the outcome of Nora and Margaret. It is a novel worth investigating for anyone with an interest in psychology or mental illness (specifically dissociative identity disorder).

A fractured mind. Old scars. Emotional trauma. This book's synopsis pretty much gives the entire story away, but this book was nicely written and flowed easily. Some of the content was difficult to read about but this author made each scene plausible and believable without glorifying it. None of the characters (including the narrator) were particularly likable but this story firmly held my attention.

▣ Overall, this was a very sad, tragic, and disturbing story. Kudos to the author for writing so eloquently about the themes broached in this book. The ending threw me for a loop because it felt unfinished and yet hinted at new possibilities--an alternate reality in which Nora would ultimately embrace. I wasn't certain how to interpret it, exactly, but definitely looking forward to reading more from this author.

My review as posted on Goodreads.

The Night Child is an emotional journey into a recessed memory of a young woman's childhood. Nora is an English teacher who starts to suffer with really bad headaches. She thinks she starting to have visions of a little girl with piercing blue eyes. This of course frightens her and she shares her worries with her husband who fairly instantly dismisses it all out of hand. Nora is a mother and has an eight year old daughter who she is fiercely protective of. Dressing almost in an androgynous manner and keeping her hair short, Nora seems to have lost interest in her husband and vice versa.

Fearing that she might be heading for a psychological breakdown she seeks out professional help and is referred to a psychiatrist, David. Together they slowly work out that Nora had been abused as a little girl and the girl in her vision is a character Nora has created herself. A way for her childhood brain to deal/escape the tragedy that she had to endure. Together with an alcoholic mother who died when Nora was young Nora's memories have become totally fragmented and repressed.

The story is a emotional journey of horrendous abuse with some graphic depictions of said abuse. Not overly graphic but does highlight just what Nora suffered at the hands of her abuser. It's not an easy read but the novel carefully balances out the abuse with the nurture that Nora receives from David.

It's fairly well written and you can see why a little girl would be so ready to mentally shut down a very dark chapter in her young troubled life. Having read a few books regarding child abuse I thought this one was deftly handled by the author with nothing feeling too much or over the top. It's not a book you could say that you enjoy; more one filled with empathy and an understanding of an emotional road to recovery. That though the road might be a long one, with the right help a victim can eventually find some level of balance. Hopefully.

Many thanks for review copy received.

This book needs a warning to those who don't want to read about abuse. I thoroughly enjoy psychological thrillers but cannot handle any type of abuse - especially child abuse & violence to children. Sorry - couldn't finish this book.

I have strongly mixed feelings about this novel. On the one hand, it does deal with the harsh, important issue of child sexual abuse. It is engagingly written and a short quick read. The novel started out quite strong.
However, the story fizzled out by the end, turning maudlin and soap-operaish by the end, which negated the serious start. Some characters were not very fleshed out, the husband's behavior at the end didn't ring true, and the ending, well......not satisfying entirely.
Quinn, however, does have a flair for language and writes in an easy-to-read style (I finished the book in a day and a half), and there were moments of clarity and beautifully written passages.
But, alas, the final third of the book was not rescued by those attributes. However, I might give Quinn's next book a chance based solely on the beauty of some of the passages in this one.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Nora has just finished teaching a high school English class when a face with startling blue eyes appears above the desks. She’s not sure if she’s losing her mind or has seen a ghost. In a sense both possibilities are true and as the story continues readers begin to understand why. William Faulkner said, “The past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past” and that statement definitely applies to Quinn’s debut novel. It’s not an easy book because of the subject matter—sexual abuse, mental illness, alcoholism, suicide—and it’s not for everyone. I’m grateful to Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Night Child portrays Nora with sensitivity and gave me a real sense of her interior struggles. The writing itself is good and the pacing is fairly quick. However, I would have liked to get a better understanding of some of the other characters. There seemed to be a contrast between the flashbacks—which were quite vivid—and the 1990s events. This may have been intentional on the part of the author and was effective in conveying the devastating effect the past had on her life. But I still would have liked to know more about her husband, her principal, her daughter and a particular student. Toward the end there were a few scenes that did develop the characters in greater depth, especially her husband, but I would have liked more of that earlier on. That said, I’m glad I had the chance to read this disturbing yet honest book