I am in awe of everything Chelsea Bieker writes - and Madwoman is no exception. The currents of motherhood and womanhood are truly fresh and inspiring, while deep and dark and raw. I not only have recommended this book to those in my personal life, but to therapy clients processing addiction, grief, and many other family traumas.

Chelsea Bieker is an auto-read author for me. If she writes it, I’m reading it. 👏🏼 This book is no exception.

Heads up: This book delves into domestic violence.

Clove has a secret. Okay, basically an entire lifetime of them. Luckily her husband doesn’t seem to suspect anything and the wellness store down the street will deeefinitely fix her with their fancy supplements. Next thing you know, her previous life comes back full force and she has to decide whether she’s going to tell the truth or let it drag her down with it.

While this definitely had more of a suspenseful element for me compared to her previous books, I still felt Bieker’s trademark detailed writing. I even saw a few little callbacks to her previous short story collection, Heartbroke.

I do love a twisty read and this book delivers! I couldn’t put it down and read it almost all in one sitting. It’s a book that’s easy to get swept up in, which is always fun.

Also, not to completely quote Chappell Roan quoting Sasha Colby, but Chelsea Bieker is seriously your favorite writer’s favorite writer. I adore her. Pick this one up for a fantastic read.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for the digital copy to review.

This was a different read that I was curious about, and I was not exactly sure what to expect. It turned out just ok for me, as it was a very slow build most of the way through, but did pick up towards the end. It was interesting enough to keep my attention as I wanted to know how it was going to end, even though I knew most of the twists that were coming.

I think I went into this with the wrong expectations - it seems to be marked as more of a mystery/thriller when it’s really more of a straightforward character study type of literary novel. Bieker’s writing is haunting and descriptive and was definitely the highlight of the book for me even when the story dragged.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on September 3, 2024.

An interesting book though slow at times and a lot of the twists I saw coming but I would still recommend it for the ending that was very well written and positive. Clove is a married woman with two young children, she has a bit of a shopping online issue, that she mostly conceals from her husband. She buys all the best stuff for her and her children, food, clothes, medicine, etc, providing for them something she herself lacked as a youngster. The story is told from the present then blends into the past (no clear break though it's easy to tell when it switches), in the past Clove lived with her mom and dad, her dad was not a pleasant man, very abusive towards her mom, though her mom kept going back to him thinking he'll get better. So many domestic abuse victims are like this, cling to the very person that abuses, and in lots of cases kills them. Clove receives a letter from a prison inmate that turns her carefully lived life upside down, that's around the same time she makes a rather rash decision to invite a near stranger into her home as a nanny of sorts. We learn a lot of about the abuse her mom suffered, how she was put in the hospital several times, and how Clove doesn't want to be like that and had selected her husband because he was so calm and never got upset. An interesting book, I did finish it though as I mentioned, slow at times. Thanks to #Netgalley and #LittleBrownand Co for the ARC.

Madwoman was an amazing read. I appreciated the author's insight into motherhood. The writing was excellent

👉🏻For my friends prepared for a slow but dark tale of unresolved (and horrific) childhood trauma from the POV of an unhinged, Goop-wanna-be unreliable narrator.

Thanks, Little, Brown and Company for the advanced review copy via NetGalley AND the gorgeous hardcovers and audiobooks for my book club. #bookclubhub Our discussion was as intense as the book itself!

Clove hasn’t met a healthy supplement, online artisan sweater, or self-improvement trend she hasn’t tried. “I stood in the glow of the refrigerator, all my gorgeous berries, my grain-free tortillas, my broccoli sprouts— more nutrient dense than actual broccoli, by the way— my chia pudding made with blue spirulina, my probiotic coconut yogurt that was $ 9.99 per tiny portion. I tried to breathe diaphragmatically, let my items soothe me.”

Everyone in her orbit is so perfectly adjusted they wear Birkenstocks on their feet and hands. Her husband is pleasant, unquestioning, and thoroughly non-violent. Her overprotected children are creative, brilliant, and free from the trauma that shaped Clove’s first 13 years. Except Clove herself isn’t free of that trauma, though she has buried it deep in lies for decades. Instead, she is “depressed, repressed, unable to rest.” And that’s BEFORE she receives a letter from her mother in prison. *record screech*

This was a dark one, folks, and I didn’t enjoy spending time in Clove’s noggin, though my heart broke for her. The pacing was unique, sometimes meandering, sometimes speeding, and always full of poor judgment, masking an unhinged mind until the zippy end, which felt like a run-of-the-mill thriller with a couple of could-see-them-miles-away twists. While I didn’t like how it made me feel, it certainly made me FEEL, and isn’t that the point?

I was so grateful to get an advanced copy of Madwoman thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company.

This was a book that worked on many levels. On the one hand, you have a story of a main character who is fighting for her life, trying to escape her past. She exhausts herself in an effort to keep up appearances and catch up with ordinary skills she finds herself lacking while also dealing with unresolved traumas from her childhood.

This book is also a narrative about mothers, about the effects mothers have on their children (good or bad,) the lengths mothers will go to to protect their children, (rational and irrational,) and the how difficult it is for men and women to break cycles of family dysfunction and violence.

The prose was poignant; this book was very emotional. The scenes of abuse were not gratuitous but put you in the scene and in the mental and physical state the characters experienced. The journey the main character takes to try to build her own life is well laid out and rings true. There were some parts about the way the story concludes that felt a little too tidily wrapped up, albeit perhaps fitting for 2024, However, this will remain a memorable book for me; Beiker was working on many levels, and I think she succeeded.

Clove had an awful mother, and is determined to be a wonderful mother to her children. A letter from a prison completely upends her new perfect life, and forces her to revisit her awful childhood. This was so good!

I was so captivated by this #bookcover, I couldn’t wait to get to this one. I will say, it was extremely well written and psychologically fascinating, but it was a little slow for me – I sometimes felt like the chapters dragged on a bit. I also don’t know if I’d classify it as a #suspensethriller as much as I would a dark family drama.

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That being said, the fantastic writing and psychological aspects made this one a pretty solid #read for me, and it was definitely better than average. The main character did aggravate me endlessly with her bizarre obsession and almost borderline lust for Jane from the get-go. On the other hand, this one gets a bonus for being one of the rare #books in this genre that actually showcased a husband that was – albeit not perfect – but overall kind, phenomenal, and supportive.

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Madwoman delves into the effects of domestic trauma and abuse, as shown through Clove, a woman that seems to have it all – two adorable children, a loving husband, a lovely home – but who is at the brink of continuous psychological meltdowns when the life she escaped years ago comes back to haunt her.

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Decades earlier, following years of abuse at the hands of her father in her childhood and adolescence, her father died after falling from a balcony in the midst of an altercation. Clove took her chance and escaped into a new life and identity, where she’s been thriving ever since. Her mother, on the other hand, has been in prison ever since she was convicted for the murder of her notorious husband.

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Unfortunately for Clove, everything she’s built comes crashing down when she receives letters from her mother in prison, begging her to tell the truth, set her free, and threatening to expose her. As Clove attempts to keep her life’s secret and maintain normalcy, she also seeks refuge in a new friend, one who just might be either the solution to all of her problems, or an unexpected nightmare, tying both her past and future to the present.

Clove has built a perfect marriage and a perfect life. She is into wellness and safety, putting her past as far from her as possible. But then she receives a letter from her mother who is serving time in prison for killing her father when Clove was young. Clove hides the letter — her husband knows nothing of her past. But you know it’s going to catch up with her. This book goes between Clove’s childhood in Hawaii and her present day life. It is a book about domestic violence that does not glamorize the issue a la It Ends With Us. This book is powerful and necessary. I couldn’t stop reading it. Looking forward to discussing with my book club.

Thank you Netgalley and Little Brown for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I did not finish this, I anticipated something more quietly melancholic, and did not foresee that it would be primarily motherhood based. I did not enjoy the POV of the main character, not that she was meant to be likeable per say, but she was very much so a new age hippie, like Gwyneth Paltrow, and that aspect is not something I can stand in earnest.

I was captivated by Bieker's writing from the very first chapter, and so impressed by her depiction of life as an adult with childhood trauma.

Meandering drama disguised and promoted as a thriller.

I should have marked this DNF but once I start something, I have to finish it. This story of a totally neurotic married woman (known as Clove) with two children basically turned me off from the start. Her mother is in prison because she confessed to killing Clove's father many years ago. Clove has not once contacted her mother so is sent into a downward spiral when she receives a letter begging for Clove's help to get released from prison now that domestic violence is better understood.

I can't even begin to describe the angsty stream of consciousness narrative that follows as Clove attempts to deal with the stress of her mother's request/demand. There is not one decision or action she takes that I could relate to. I couldn't stand anything about Clove or Jane. The whole healthy living and clean food part drove me up the wall. Clove needs years of therapy. Any empathy I initially felt for her was gone after the first couple of chapters. It seemed like this went on forever and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

I tried listening to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book but did not like the narrator at all -- all the voices basically sounded the same. I recognize that I am an outlier in my thoughts, but I was definitely the wrong audience for this type of story.

I really enjoyed the literary fiction end of this one and the trauma exploration. The more mystery side on the other hand didn’t work that well for me and required some suspension of disbelief.

This was a wild ride. The first 50% was a bit slow and the plot was winding up and we were getting to know our characters. The book hits the halfway mark and off we go! Twist and turns and it comes together perfectly. Some parts I got chills or said “wowwww” out loud. Great read!

Pretty propulsive but predictable twists in the end! I’ve read everything by Chelsea bowler though and this was her best I think

Clove's story sucked me in from the very beginning and I flew through Madwoman. I did feel like the twists were a bit predictable, but that didn't keep me from enjoying the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC.

MADWOMAN-Chelsea Bieker
A psychological thriller and also a mystery on some level. The overwhelming theme is spousal abuse and it is depicted very very well. In addition Bieker shows the scars and traumas inflicted on the children of such situations and their lifelong struggles to escape them. Motherhood and the love only a mother can have for her child are also well depicted. If the book had a fault it was at times too long too worthy too repetitive, and at times too predictable.
I recently saw the movie IT ENDS WITH US which deals with the same theme. In my opinion it pales in comparison with what Chelsea Bieker has presented here.
A good-very good read.