When a little girl in a red dress appears in her empty classroom, Nora doesn’t know what to think. But this first appearance is just the beginning of what becomes an endless battle with insomnia and nightmares–episodes that Nora’s husband isn’t sure how to handle. To try and figure out what’s wrong, Nora begins to see a therapist who begins to take her back through her childhood in hopes of unraveling the mystery of Nora’s visions. Something deeper, more sinister must be at play here. She can’t just be going crazy. Right?

But what Nora has to handle is more than just trying to navigate this new onset of symptoms. Questions about her own family–about her husband–soon converge with the work Nora is doing with her therapist. Anna Quinn has carefully crafted the narrative of this story so that it leaves the reader guessing whether or not they can trust Nora, or any other character. Especially Nora’s husband: a man who has the power to take away Nora’s home, her daughter, and her freedom if her symptoms keep getting worse.

Quinn balances elements of Women’s Fiction with Domestic Thrillers, following a woman through a terrible experience while keeping the reader on the edge of their seats. Combined with beautiful, anxious prose that gives a unique look into Nora’s splintered mind, The Night Child is a must-read for fans of Mary Kubica and Karen Perry.

I finished The Night Child by Anna Quinn in one sitting over the holidays, and it was not at all what I was expecting. I didn’t read much about it before it was sent to me, but I was expecting a suspenseful thriller or some kind of supernatural mystery. 

What I actually experienced was the very emotional repercussions of a suppressed trauma that manifests years after the triggering events. And triggering they were, much like this book was, so be prepared. 

I feel like this must have been therapeutic to write, as the subject manner was dealt with in such an emotional and realistic way, coming from a place of deep knowledge and understanding.  I found this very moving and enlightening and I feel like anyone who has experienced trauma or is currently dealing with something similar can intimately relate to the feelings and thoughts that are described in this book.

It wasn’t so much a story, though. We don’t see much outside of the current events and there isn’t much character building outside of realizing and accepting the circumstances, but it is a strong snapshot of what it’s like dealing with a certain kind of repressed trauma and how it can have such a lasting impact on your life, even when you can’t seem to remember it’s there.

I didn’t necessarily enjoy the book or the characters, they didn’t feel very dimensional to me, but I felt the subject matter was described and dealt with in a very respectable and sensitive way and this topic is so difficult to talk about, so I admire anyone brave enough to write about it and write about it well. 

This of course won’t be for everyone and you might be surprised by what you get if you have misleading expectations going into it, but it is a very important look at these painfully traumatic experiences and I think that in itself is worth reading.

Debut novelist Anna Quinn does a fantastic job of presenting an engaging and realistic narrative of an adult coming to terms with the sexual abuse she suffered as a child and has repressed. Characterizations are strong, including the two children featured in the plot. I hope to see more from this author.

Well, not really something you would read on Valentine's Day on purpose, it was a little different, especially considering the day.

I knew it would be emotional as per the hint in the blurb on the website. And the blurb was totally correct. A remembrance of what happened back in Nora's childhood that was affecting her was cray, cray. And I mean that in a good way. Not the event, but how she stowed it away and lived her life. That is, until her daughter reached a certain age.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I did not see the ending coming.

Thanks to Blackstone Publishing and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

This book hooked me from the beginning. It took me a little bit to get used to the writing style, but once I got used to it the book went along smoothly. This book covers a very sensitive and painful topic but does it in a very well written way. Parts of this book left me feeling emotional and raw. This book gives you an intimate look into the broken mind of Nora and the trauma that she has endured. This book is incredibly well written and a must read. This is a sensitive topic so keep that in mind when you pick up this book.

I really didn’t expect this novel to take all the twists and turns that it took. As the novel began to close, I couldn’t believe that the author really chose that ending for the main character. With everything that had occurred, it just didn’t seem right.

Nora is not content teaching high school like she used to be. Vacation is coming soon for her and her family but not before she begins to have visions. These visions scare Nora as they speak to her and mention subjects that she knows nothing about. Speaking with a psychiatrist, her visions evolve, causing Nora to fear them. I enjoyed this confusing period in the novel as it added a mysterious element and it created tension to many areas within the novel. As Nora speaks with her psychiatrist, we meet Margaret, someone from Nora’s past. Margaret was an important part of Nora’s past and she is needed now to help Nora get through this current period in her life.

I enjoyed this novel as it did a great job dealing with some tough issues but there were times when I was reading, that I thought it would have been nice to have more information on some of the individuals I was reading about. I didn’t think there was a lot of information about Nora’s husband. We knew the negatives but there had to be some positives in there somewhere, right? Her brother James, we know they were close but some information on their childhood would have sealed the deal for me. I liked Nora for the most part. She was intense, creative and her emotions were deep. I wanted something different for her as the novel ended, nothing nice and neat, just a different ending.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book didn't live up to my expectations. It starts off with a teacher who keeps "seeing" a little girl. She starts to see a psychologist who determines that her visions are due to a childhood trauma. Through the book, she is trying to work through the trauma with her psychologist, be a good mom, fix her marriage and continue teaching. The book was interesting, but not a captivating read. You discover what her childhood trauma was but nothing else really happens in the book.

I wanted to like this book, but I just couldn't get into it. I did not finish the book.

I was given this book for my honest review.

I really wanted to like this books. I thought for sure I would enjoy it based on reading what the book was written about. I thought I would be able to relate to the main character because our daughters are the same age. Unfortunately for me this was not the case and I didn't finish the book. I dont think the book was badly written. I believe someone who likes this genre and is not simply 'trying it out' would enjoy this book.

I don't know what I was expecting but it certainly wasn't this! I want to start this review by giving a trigger warning: this novel deals with child abuse and may be disturbing for some readers.

I thought that this novel would be a terrifying read based on the synopsis, but I did not expect it to be as emotionally evocative as it was. This is a book that deals with the way the human mind deals with trauma, and how it protects you from your own memories. This was a dark and gripping story, and you would be hard-pressed to not be affected by the things you read. The author did an absolutely fantastic job of weaving the past and the present together, and illustrating how memories can be distorted. This novel delivers on so many levels, and it took me by surprise from the start. If anything, I would want the story to be a little longer to explore the issues mentioned in the book further. This is a solid 4/5 star book and I would recommend this to anyone who is looking for a dark and emotional psychological story (but keep in mind the trigger warning)!

Thank you to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I just couldn't do it. I was not a fan, I could not get into this book. I was disappointed.

This story is beautifully written and a very emotional read. Although this book deals with child molestation and mental health issues, it does so with great insight and compassion as one woman deals with her childhood demons.

My thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

It is absolutely incredible to me that The Night Child is Anna Quinn's debut novel. She writes so smoothly and in such a polished way, that it is hard to believe she has not been writing for decades.

The Night Child is an excellent book; the beautifully told and powerful story of Nora Brown and her struggle to survive what she assumes is mental-illness. A high-school English teacher, Nora is married to Paul, and together they have a young daughter Fiona who is about to turn six.

At the end of school one day, Nora sees the floating face of a child. This terrifies her. She sees it again, and yet again when the child tells her to "remember the Valentine's dress". Panicked, and fearful that she might be mentally ill like her mother, she immediately seeks help. It begins a journey of self-discovery that she never imagined.

Quinn shows much psychological sensitivity to the subject she presents and the reader is spellbound as we learn what Nora's story is. Watching her discover, and deal with the truth, gaining the support of some and losing the support of others as they also come to terms with it is heart-wrenching.

This is a riveting and important read. Anna Quinn gives a voice to the children who survived this nightmare, to those trying to survive, and to those who couldn't stop believing it was their fault, couldn't continue, and are forever lost to us.

Many, many thanks to the author for writing this, and to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this most memorable book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

I cannot review this book properly without a spoiler flag.

A poignant read by an author who spent a decade working on this, her debut. Powerful stuff. I could hardly put it down. An excellent book club read. So many questions to explore.

Spoilers below the cut...

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This is a very poignant story about the terrible damage that child abuse and child sexual abuse can cause. Major trigger warning for those with a history of abuse, though the final moments of this book can only be described as uplifting. As someone who spent years doing work within the child welfare system, I can definitely state that the extreme reaction to the abuse shown in this book is not an exaggeration. Children do what they can to survive their experiences and while what is shown here is a rarer solution, compartmentalization can go this far.

A detailed insight into the life of a family when the wife discovers she has a multiple personality, which has been hidden for many years...to escape the pain in her childhood. Very well written, sad but worth the read. The physiatrist character provides the reader with an account of how to deal with and reconcile, or at least accept the fact that her father abused her, and to try and get on with her life..

I have seen a lot of advanced praise for this book so when I was granted a copy of it via Netgalley I was incredibly excited to dive in. I have always been a big fan of the dark and twisty psychological thrillers this, however, fell a little flat for me.

The good: This made a great vacation read and I was able to go through the whole novel in a day and a half poolside. The premise was good and made you think about the way that your past may be intentionally burying itself in our subconscious to protect and insulate us from emotional trauma.

The not so great: It may be a function of the copy I received but I found myself confused at times about what characters were in each scene. More delineation between especially the male characters would have helped this tremendously.

Trigger warning for abuse and mental illness.

Based on other feedback that I read, there are a lot of people who really enjoyed this story. Please don't let my lukewarm response prevent you from picking up this novel.

Thank you to Anna Quinn, Blackstone Publishing and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this story. I did not expect it to end the way it did but it was interesting.

THE NIGHT CHILD is the dark and moving debut novel from Anna Quinn. I feel like I should include a trigger warning, but on the other hand, a trigger warning gives you a heads up as to what is going to happen and I think it's best to let the author tell the story as she intended. Just be aware that there are very disturbing elements within.

I'm not going to run down the entire plot for you, but it begins with Nora, a high school English teacher, seeing an hallucination of a face with startling blue eyes. Here begins Nora's decline. Whose face it and what does it mean? You'll have to read this to find out!

Being a seasoned reader of dark fiction, I pretty much knew where this story was going as soon as I began reading. Anna Quinn does a good job at depicting all the different psychological aspects of this situation, including the reactions of other family members and coworkers. My only problem was this: I didn't care for any of the characters. I felt pity for Nora and for her immediate family, but maybe that's what the author intended? Perhaps Nora's coldness was yet another symptom of her underlying issues and partially the result of her husband being such a jerk?

That said, this was a touching and disturbing story dealing with heartbreaking situations and I believe that it deals with mental illness, (or coming to terms with difficult, horrendous circumstances) in a stark, but believable way. For that reason, I recommend this book to those who think they can handle the worst of humanity.

*Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it.*

The Night Child was an unexpected surprise. The writing is very terse and suspenseful and the reader can really get a feel for the characters. Nora is suffering some time of psychological breakdown and begins to see a therapist to dig deeper into her distress. While this happens, her husband may or not be having an affair and she is raising her 6 year old daughter. Nora begins to have a breakthrough with her therapist and what is revealed is part of her childhood that she pushed as far away from herself as possible. The book is great for about the first three-quarters and then loses a bit of its believability at the end. Still, a worthwhile story.

Intricate and delicate, this novel took me a bit to get into but held on tightly once I was in there. I'd recommend it to friends, particularly those that like thrillers.