This was a heartbreaking journey that was beautifully written by Anna Quinn. Not knowing where this story was headed by the synopsis, I do think it needs a warning label. Dark and intense, Quinn does finally bring her character out the other side, but left me wishing for a more resolute ending.

*Somewhere on the spectrum between 3 and 4 stars. Another book that is hard to rate because it hits hard where it hurts--in your heart. This book should come with a warning label that states it deals with disturbing topics in a frank and graphic manner. I was not aware of the uncomfortable subject matter when I requested an arc from NetGalley and began reading. Even the publisher's synopsis does not really reveal what lies in store. So be forewarned....

Having said all that, I think Anna Quinn should be praised for her fine writing in this her debut novel. She tackles an important topic that is all too frequently in the headlines or worse, covered up: the sexual abuse of a child and the lifelong damage that can inflict.

The main character is Nora Brown, a high-school English teacher living in Seattle with her husband and 6-year-old daughter. She is preparing to leave school for the Thanksgiving break when she has an hallucination that shakes her to the core: she sees the disembodied face of a little blue-eyed girl. Later, while dressing to go out for dinner with her family, the hallucination is repeated, but this time the apparition speaks to her: "Remember the Valentine's dress." What in the world is going on?

Fearing she's having a nervous breakdown, Nora undergoes a series of neurological tests that show nothing physically wrong with her so it is suggested she see a psychiatrist, Dr. David Forrester. In these sessions, Nora reveals details about her childhood--how her mother fell to her death on the basement stairs, after which she and her younger brother were sent to live with grandparents in Ireland, and never saw their father again.

After several sessions, there is a shocking breakthrough and David begins to think she is suffering from some form of PTSD. But what was the traumatic episode that caused the damage?

As she makes some progress in her sessions, matters in her personal life seem to be devolving: her once neat home is a mess; she thinks her husband is being unfaithful; an angry snit frightens her little daughter; she punches out a parent at school. Would everyone be better off without her?

The mental health procedures are interesting--I don't know how realistic they are or how quickly a patient like this would progress. Some have suggested that this story is somewhat autobiographical but the author does not reveal that in her acknowledgments--just that it took a decade-long effort to write the story. I would be interested in reading more from this talented author and look forward to more opportunities.

This book is for anyone who has had child abuse in their past. It helps you realize that you are not the only person who has faced this. The feelings that you feel are discussed.
I flew through this book. It was so on point to how the victim feels.
This would be an excellent book for adults to be able to coop with their emotions from the past.

Nora is a high school teacher with a knack for connecting with at risk students. She’s also the mother of a 5 year old daughter, and has a husband who is cheating on her, a fact which she is aware of but not wanting to deal with. One afternoon, sitting in her classroom after school, she sees a vision of a young girl with blue eyes. It leaves her rattled and confused. Then, a day later, she sees the face again, and this time it speaks, telling her to remember the Valentine’s dress.

Her husband is dismissive and doesn’t really want to hear about it. Nora goes to doctors; when they find nothing physically wrong, she sees a psychiatrist. During the session, she suddenly starts speaking in a little girl voice, and says she is Margaret. This is when stuff gets really serious. Nora’s –Margaret’s- past starts coming back to her, and it’s not pretty. Not only is it ugly, but she begins to see how it’s affected her entire adult life.

When I requested this book from Net Galley, I thought it was a supernatural horror story rather than what it is. This is kind of a hard book to read because of what Nora went through as a child. People who have undergone sexual abuse may find it very triggering. But for all the bad, there is signs of growth and renewal. This is a very well written book, but not one I would have picked up knowing what it was about. Most of the characters aren’t very well developed; they are very secondary to Nora and Margaret and what they are going through. Four and a half stars.

Thank you to Netgalley, Publisher and the altar for the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion.

When I request at this book, I thought it was Something different. That being said, this was a fantastic book. I was on the edge of my seat, right with Nora, trying to discover what the terrible secret in her past was. Why was she being haunted by this face, I was right with her as her mind was tearing her apart.

Great book. It was very touchy subject, but so well done. I think everyone should read this book, it was really good and tough to read, but in a good way. Seeing the process of a person trying to deal with trauma and make themselves whole again was heart breaking and uplifting.

I'm never write sure what to make of the books I pick up from Netgalley. I've read some really amazing things, and I've found some authors I will actively avoid in the future. I don't mind the disparity of it; it's part of the charm of the site. I'd rather have a mixed bag than always know what to expect.

I know, this is a pretty ominous opening to a review, huh? It sounds worse than it is, I promise.

THE NIGHT CHILD was a book I picked up quite a while ago, and only just recently had a chance to read it. The description seemed to promise some interesting looks into the human condition, as it were, and in that I was not disappointed. The trouble is, it felt like there were way too many things all happening at once. I see where the author was going with them all, but in a book the length of this one (not that long) and having a core concept that needs to punch as hard as this one does (spoilers) having the plot come across as messy and busy hurts what the author, I have to assume, is trying to do. It's incredibly fragmented -- which is fitting, given the topics of the story and the headspace of the main character, but again, it kept me from fully investing. We're never given a strong reason to connect with Nora, other than she's our narrator, and her past is messed up. The characters I truly end up caring about are more sideline. James. Fiona. John. David. They're the ones caught in the cross fire of this roller coaster.

Our leads? Nope. This isn't to say that I don't understand why they act the way they do, because I basically do. But when both leads, who we are theoretically supposed to be rooting for, just make me go "eh", something is wrong.

There are some pieces of truly beautiful writing tucked away in here, though. Descriptions that paint better pictures than many artists. And through it all, it is a very broken and jagged narrative. As it should be. It can border on incoherent, and still you don't lose the story line. That takes skill.

I can't speak to the psychology of the book. I don't know if it's accurate or fair, as I've never gone through what Nora has. It seemed believable enough to me, though I would love to hear the opinion of someone who knows better than me. And I have to admit, the ending left a lot to be desired. I'm not the kind of guy who is going to get all up in arms about loose threads, because I leave them too, sometimes intentionally. But this... This lacked resolution. It just... dropped. And when the whole book seems to be leading to that moment, leaving it with no denouement seemed unfortunate.

But as you can see, I'm not totally panning the book. I still consider it something worth a look. I may not be able to put my finger on a definite reason, but it's worth that look.

Rating: *** - Worth a Look

THE NIGHT CHILD comes out January 30, 2018.

I received this from netgalley.com in exchange for a review.

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

Nora teaches high school English and lives a quiet life in Seattle with her husband and six-year-old daughter. One day she sees a child's face floating above her classroom. Hospitalized in the psych ward she discovers (remembers) tragic events of her childhood.

The subject matter is a harsh reality of our society. The writing has a YA feeling to it but there are Lots of 'F' bombs.

3☆

I wanted to like this one. A sort of psychological/mystery thriller. But the pace was very slow for me. It didn’t feel believable so I lost interest fast.

*Links to review will be added closer to release day. *

Thank you to Blackstone Publishing and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this novel.

Just look at this cover! I'll admit, I was totally judging this book by its gorgeous cover, hoping the story inside would be as exciting as it sounded from the blurb. I was not disappointed in the least. The Night Child has everything I look for in books - twisty, deeply emotional, and boasting a strong storyline.

Though this is Anna Quinn's debut novel, she is no novice. Come to find out she is the owner The Writers' Workshoppe and Imprint Bookstore in Port Townsend, Washington. This explains her sharp writing, emotional storytelling, and well-paced plotting.

The Night Child begins in the classroom of Nora Brown, a high school English teacher in Seattle. Unexpectedly, Nora sees a young girl's face, with bright blue eyes floating toward her after class. Deeply shaken and haunted, she tries to write off the incident as a side effect of stress. However, hours later, while on vacation with her family for Thanksgiving, Nora sees the face again. She can no longer deny the importance of these moments and decides to meet with doctors and a psychiatrist to delve into why this could be happening. Nora never expects to unearth decades worth of memories in the process.

My first thought upon reading the synopsis of this story was that it would be a terrifying read. In some ways, it was, but not in the ways most might expect. It is not what I would consider paranormal, though readers may get that impression from the blurb. Rather, this is a deeply moving story about the lengths human minds can go to protect themselves from trauma. This was an emotional tale that sucks readers in from beginning to end. I picked this book up in the morning, hoping to read a few chapters, and ended up reading much of the day, finishing the entire novel in less than 12 hours time.

The writing was emotional, dark, and exciting. I was reminded of my favorite author, Tarryn Fisher's writing as I read, who ironically happens to be a Seattle resident with one of her own books set in Port Townsend, Washington. I'm not sure if the two authors are connected in any way, but I loved the similarities I found between the two. I think readers of Tarryn's work would be drawn to this novel and find it appealing to their tastes.

With this story, readers are taken back to childhood through an unexpected avenue. I was impressed with the author's ability to convey the voice of a child with the accuracy she managed. As a mother, some of these parts were difficult to read but were vital to the message of the story. I was drawn the psychological theme of The Night Child, the ties between past and present, and the Washington setting. Overall, this book was so much more than I expected. It was emotional, heartbreaking, and interesting. I highly recommend this to readers are keen to learn about the mind's inner workings. Many thanks to Anna Quinn for starting my year with a great 5-star read.
Be sure to pick up a copy of The Night Child upon its release on January 30th.

NOTE: Sensitive readers may want to explore further reviews for trigger warnings, if needed.

Right from the start there's this detached feeling i have from the characters which makes me uninterested in them and the story

A good debut novel from Anna Quinn. Nora is a high school teacher, married for 16 years, not entirely happily, and has a 6 year old daughter who she adores. All, however, is not as it seems when she starts hallucinating. Is she going mad, as she fears she may be. This is a painful journey deep into her past. She fears she may lose her daughter and may be losing her mind but has a therapist who is determined she will uncover the truth from her past, however painful, as the only way she can face the future. It is a hard read at times, but very well done.

This is a well-written book that begins slowly and builds in complexity until it suddenly goes off in a totally unexpected direction! It was fascinating to feel Nora's emotions as she tried to make sense of her sudden visions. Where did they come from? What caused them? And why now? The journey with Nora as she discovered answers to her questions was at times painful and horrifying. The thought that there are many adults harboring these secret feelings is sobering

This is an excellent portrayal of a serious issue.

Nora is a high school English teacher, but one November day, she sees the face of a young girl appear above her students desks. Twenty four hours later the face appears again so Nora seeks medical help.

What follows is them examining her past childhood and her discovering a terrible secret.

This book is well written and I read it fairly quickly. I would give it 3.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing and the author for the chance to review.

I received this as an ARC from net galley - thank you!

This was s quick, page turner little novel. I initially thought it was going to have supernatural elements but it turned out be a psychological portrayal of a woman who has been abused as a child and has developed a dissociative disorder as a result.

I felt that the book portrayed her mental illness fairly accurately and without I over dramatizing it. It was a good insight into the trauma as well as the treatment.

There were no crazy twists I this book but it was interesting and good to read.

Anna Quinn does an outstanding job with her debut novel, The Night Child. After a bit of a slow start, her writing soon had me engrossed in the story and I read right through until the end.

Nora, a young teacher and mother, sees a vision of a small child and from there, she embarks on an emotional rollercoaster as past events from her childhood come to light.
We all have those moments when a smell, a song or a situation will churn up a memory from our childhood. Just imagine if those memories caused intense fear. This is just part of what Nora endured as she discovered the truth from her past.

I thought it was a bit frightening in relation to Nora’s post traumatic stress and split personality and I felt such empathy for her as she worked through these issues.

Readers should be warned there is sensitive subject matter relating to child abuse and references to suicide.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

Not for the fainthearted reader, but what a powerful, tragic, heart-wrenching, yet hopeful story written by a Pacific Northwest writer. Anna Quinn knows Seattle and places her story in a realistic time back in the 1990's, when the trauma of sexual abuse was starting to make it more and more into the public eye. As a former public school teacher myself, I was impressed with her depth of knowledge of both setting and career. Quinn's main character, Nora, is fully developed as a high school teacher who sees for herself the outcome of students' home lives and the impact on their school lives. Nora, however, also has demons of her own as her young daughter is soon to turn six. As the author slowly and insidiously pulls secrets out of Nora, through visits with her therapists, moments with students, and an unhappy marital life, the true tragedy unfolds. This is a powerful tale of mental illness, childhood trauma, and abusive parenting that will rivet you, make you turn pages, cry a few tears, and cheer for the heroes found in the end. I look forward to Quinn's next book after this powerful debut.

Wow - This story about a mother, wife dealing with repressed memories was written so beautifully. At first it was a little disconnected for me, but as the story got into its stride it came together beautifully. The topic is such a hard one, abuse from those we trust most, and the reckoning of it from an adult with the memories of the abuse from a child's intellectuals ability to understand it. I really think Anna Quinn is wonderful writer, her writing not overwrought and yet captures the emotions of the characters. It is sparse in descriptions of others motivations, you wonder about various characters, but stays true to the inner story of her emergence to her whole self.
Thank you Net Galley for this first look into Anna Quinn's novel the Night Child. I look forward to new works from this very talented author.

I never enjoy writing reviews of books I didn't like, unless they are so horrible that I feel a sort of relish describing all the ways they went wrong. This was not that horrible, thus the one star. This was just below OK, I suppose. If you could imagine all the worst qualities a person could have and smoosh them into a stereotype, it would be the husband. At one point he actually says, in response to hearing a gay artist died, "Probably of aids." If you imagined all the mentally damaged weak women in all the other books you read and smooshed *those* into a stereotype, it would be the main character. She thinks she is unfeminine because she wears doc martens and has the shape of a "boy." There is an eating disorder hinted at often but never explored. The daughter, as well, reeks of character traits found in children who only exist in a sort of neverland, only not the fun Peter Pan Lost Boys neverland, more like the "It's a Small World" Disney ride neverland. The tropes, I suppose you could say, go way back, too. The nun who was kind, the Irish mother who drank a lot and was cruel, the father who, well. Yeah. It was perhaps an interesting idea, but unfortunately the characters couldn't make it happen.

I have not experienced sexual abuse, but some of my friends have and I feel like I understand them much better having read this beautiful novel. It is written with elegant yet deeply impact-full and emotional prose that brings the reader directly into the mind and heart of the main character, Nora. The main theme here, for me, is the story of one woman's journey back to herself after a lifetime of living in denial about what happened to her when she was 6 years old. It is a long, arduous journey, but fortunately Nora is not alone. She has her own loving 6 year old daughter, Fiona, and a longtime friend named John who is also the principal at the high school where she teaches. Also by her side is her deeply compassionate, thoroughly realistic therapist, David. I highly recommend this book to anyone struggling to deal with the aftermath of childhood trauma of any kind. It drew me in from the very first page and I couldn't stop reading until the very end.

In this haunting, personal novel, Anna Quinn introduces us to Nora Brown, a teacher, mother, and wife, who experiences a sudden and terrifying break with reality. Following Nora through breakdown and discovery, hallucination and memory, Quinn crafts THE NIGHT CHILD deftly with a sense of detachment that allows surreptitious, raw emotion to fill the spaces. As a reader, I found myself pulled into a world--Nora's world--that felt like the one between wakefulness and dreams, where colors have different dimensions, time it twisted, and reality and dreams and nightmares intertwine. Where Quinn shines is using the backdrop of reality--because there is nothing unreal about this story--to sharpen the sense of foreboding that pulls at both Nora and the reader until the very end.