Man, this book was a doozy! A testament to motherhood, womanhood and all that lies in-between; not to mention a fast paced thriller! Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

As I lay in bed reading Madwoman’s final few pages I was literally shivering, the way you do when you can feel you’re starting to come down with something. Or, I suppose, when a book has so thoroughly entered your system it’s like an infection.

Chelsea Bieker’s debut, Godshot, was a library-loan-I-had-to-own, and now I can confidently say that with Madwoman she’s written one of my favourite books of the year (and likely THE favourite; it’s hard to imagine the book that could top it).
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The story of a woman trying and failing to escape the trauma of an abusive upbringing, Madwoman works on every level, from the voice-y, pitch perfect narrator to the cast of complex characters and the expert pacing. It was an edge-of-your-seat reading experience, and whenever I thought I knew what was happening (or, equally important, had happened during the protagonist's horrific childhood), Bieker would drop another perfectly placed clue and off I’d go, pursuing a new possibility. Madwoman is literary, but I’ve seen it described as a thriller, and that’s how reading it felt.

And yet, despite the unflinching way Bieker portrays domestic violence, I never felt the book was tough going. Possibly because I’m not a mother (I imagine it will be a different experience for readers who are) and possibly because it’s also very funny (when Clove describes her addiction to Goop-inspired remedies and “wellness podcasts hosted by women with waist-length hair and confounding income sources, as they accessed the Akashic records and processed their sensitive natures born of the fact that they were not human at all, but starseeds” I laughed out loud and nearly woke up my husband).

There’s just so much to love about Madwoman. It’s a feminist book, a book with a message, and a hugely gripping, entertaining read all in one.

Thank you, Netgalley, Chelsea Bieker, and Little, Brown, and Company for the ebook. Wow. This was a heavy and mind boggling read. What resonated the most is that it's so true how the world is not made for mother's and even for kids. Childhood trauma and what a person will go through to survive and create a new life. However, the past can never stay buried forever.

MADWOMAN by Chelsea Bieker is an action packed thrill ride through one woman’s memories.

Calla Lily grew up in an abusive home and left at 17 after a tragic ‘accident’ that left her abuser dead. She began a new life, changing her name and adopting a healthier lifestyle. Now the mother of seven year-old Nova and three year old Lark, she is fulfilling her dream of becoming a writer and struggling with day-to-day demands of motherhood. Sixteen years after fleeing her home and being eventually declared a missing person, she receives a letter from someone in her past asking for her help. Not wanting to reopen that Pandora’s box, she decides she doesn’t want to help. She does, however, respond to the letter and draws a very thin line of communication.

Interspersed throughout her struggles, we are privy to her backstory, including her relationship with a helping hand and her first true love, whom she left without a word. When she receives the letter, she contacts that love as he is the only one who knew all of her, previous life and loved her anyway. She wants to know if her passed on her name change and whereabouts.

Meanwhile, she meets and becomes friendly with Jane from the local vitamin Shoppe. When she finally opens up and explains her situation about the letter to Jane, she encourages her to provide the requested assistance. As Jane becomes a more important part of her life and that of her children, she begins to feel like she finally has a friend until Jane becomes overwhelming. But what’s in it for Jane? Is she who she says she is, or does she have ulterior motives?

I really enjoyed this novel of friendship, love and motherhood. There are a few instances of domestic violence which could be triggers for some but are integral to the story so be warmed. Ms Bieker’s writing is clear and concise and had me turning pages well into the night I could . I will certainly be checking out her other works.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown & Company for this ARC opportunity. All opinions are my own and given voluntarily.

Wow. I am practically speechless. This was one of the best books I have read all year. The tension and emotion that oozed out of every single page was overwhelming in the best possible way. Although the reveals were not necessarily shocking, the build up and how they were eventually revealed was brilliant.

Honestly I can’t think of one thing I’d change about this book. I was filled with a combination of uneasiness and eagerness for answers the entire time. Poor Butcher though. Good guy.

This was very good but not at all how I imagined. The FMC was a lot, and while you understood her issues were due to her past, she was a bit unlikable. This was nowhere near as dark as I thought it'd be, while it dealt with difficult subject matter, most of it was skimmed over/not said in great detail/ done off the page. An interesting story about motherhood and generational trauma.

I have never disliked a main character so much in my life, yet I found myself crying by the end. The author did a phenomenal job crafting this story—I didn’t see the ending coming and literally gasped out loud. This book has convinced me to dive into her entire backlog."

Mothers and daughters and the devastating, resonating effects of abuse and trauma are at the center of Chelsea Bieker’s new novel, Madwoman. And it is, simply put, a masterpiece.

After a childhood and adolescence filled with violence and dysfunction, Clove is determined to make a life completely different from the way she was raised. She lives in a lovely home with her mild, kind husband and two young children; she meditates and does yoga and takes supplements and drinks green smoothies and posts photos of it all (no faces) for her 10,000 Instagram followers. But when she receives a letter from a women’s prison, her carefully constructed façade begins to crack, leaving Clove to reckon with a past that won’t stay buried.

In an emotionally resonant, evocative, unflinchingly intimate narrative that almost reads as autobiographical, Bieker takes us back in time from Clove’s peaceful life in Portland, Oregon, to her fraught youth in Waikiki, Hawai’i. The layers of Clove’s past are peeled back slowly, in horrifying detail, while we simultaneously watch her self-destruct in the present day. Clove is not necessarily a likeable character, but Bieker has written her so intricately that it’s easy to understand why she makes the choices she does. Readers should be aware that this book deals, overtly and on the page, with domestic violence: the act itself as well as its long shadow. Certain passages are incredibly difficult to read because Bieker writes with so much emotion and urgency: You can feel the rage, the desperation, and the fear so palpably.

Madwoman is being classified as a mystery/thriller, but it didn’t read to me like either of those genres. Instead, it’s a deeply psychological and suspenseful literary character study about motherhood, grief, and the complicated process of healing from trauma. It does have some twists, which are easily predicted – and the more I think about it, the more I think that Bieker wanted the reader to predict them. Because we see what Clove doesn’t, it further illustrates the effects of the trauma that she endured for so long, turning her so far inward that she isn’t aware of what’s happening around her, what should be obvious.

Madwoman shines a spotlight on the ugliest, most devastating aspects of domestic violence, in a narrative that is as enthralling as it is upsetting. It’s profound and affecting and raw, cementing Bieker’s status as one of our most dynamic contemporary writers. Thank you to Little, Brown and Company for the early reading opportunity.

How do you overcome your past, yet keep your present safe? Is it even possible? Clove is trying her hardest, and feels like she is succeeding, until she receives a letter from a women’s prison. Suddenly, her past in Hawaii is creeping into her present in Oregon.

Intriguing story with good themes but I called every twist before it happened.

This is the story of Clove, a married mother of two who is hiding secrets from her past. One day in the post office she receives a letter from her mother and the past comes roaring back.

The reason I liked this book was because there was a lot I could identify with as a mother. I felt like I deeply understood Clove's desire for everything to be better and more perfect than her own life growing up. The writing in the book is strong, giving the reader a real sense of Clove's trauma and how it affects every choice she makes in life. She's not an extremely likable character--she makes poor choices and decisions--but even so, she is quite relatable because it is an innate thing as a mother to try to create the best possible outcome for your children.

What I didn't like was that I found all of the twists to be incredibly predictable. And since the story could have been an impactful and moving tale of overcoming domestic abuse, the twists seemed forced and way too convenient to propel the story in a believable way. I wanted to be more surprised than I was. The pacing is also very slow. We know from the beginning that Clove has secrets about her past, but the story of what happened is doled out very slowly and causes the narrative to drag.

That said, the ending is good and left me with a positive feeling. I'm glad I read this book, but if you're going to read it realize that it does have some flaws, particularly with pacing.

Beautifully written novel about motherhood, domestic abuse and secrets. This story and main character stay with you after you finish I reading.

📖: Madwoman-a standalone

🖋️: Chelsea Bieker-new to me author

🗓️: Published 9-3-24, Read 9-1-24

⭐️Rating: 4/5

🌶️ Steam: 2, open door

📔Page Count: 336 pgs.


⚠️ TW: DV, suicide ideation, murder, alcoholism, death000 of a parent, imprisoned parent

Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Adult/ Women's Fic

Setting: Hawaii and Portland, OR

Tropes
✨family drama
✨secret identity/hidden past
✨ feminism
✨motherhood
✨health and wellness
✨POV: 1st person

Summary: Clove has a comfortable, safe family life with her husband and 2 kids Nova and Lark. Clove is hiding her real identity and when she receives a letter from the California Women's Facility her past explodes.

🤔My Thoughts: This was a deep, emotional, wacky ride with Clove. Between her mothering, being a wife, and wellness she was a madwoman at times. I understood it and liked her "talks" with her mother and memories of her father and The Butcher. Celine and Christina were sad figures to me, and had a darkness that would never leave. This was a great explanation of the cycle of abuse, violence, and one woman's desire to break it.

A fascinating character study of Clove - a survivor of domestic abuse, filled to the brim with rage, and trying to coax the rage down with visits to a Whole Foods styled grocery.
Fascinating read, and another excellent story from Bieker.
Thank you to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an arc for review.

When I started this book, I soon realized that it was not my normal thriller, as labeled. This is a women’s fiction book, with a slight bit of mystery towards the end, but I still enjoyed it despite the lack of thrill. This turned out to be a beautifully written book about motherhood, with a few twists!

Clove and her husband live in Portland with their two children, Nova and Lark. Clove is a stay-at-home mom who runs a wellness/lifestyle social media account. Her world is about yoga, kombucha, organic clothing, spirulina, meditation and, of course, her husband and children. She’s relatively happy until one day, that world explodes.

While checking the secret post office box she uses for her secret shopping addiction, she receives a letter from her mother Alma, who she hasn’t seen or spoken to in many years. Growing up, Clove had to repeatedly watch her father abuse her mother, despite many promises of leaving him someday. Clove ran away, changed her name and started a new life when her mother was imprisoned for killing him, as the court didn’t think it was self-defense. Now this letter shows up, and the immediate question is how her mother found her. The next question is why is she writing to her now? Alma is hoping that if Clove testifies on her behalf, corroborating the years of abuse, maybe the conviction would be overturned.

This book is basically a long letter from Clove to Alma, going back and forth in time about how she became a woman after her mother was incarcerated. As mentioned, she ran away, took a menial job, eventually changed her identity and then found a nice and normal man to marry and raise a family with - the thing is, her husband knows nothing of her past. He believes both of her parents are dead (he was half right) and has no clue what his wife suffered through. The reader finds out though, as the book goes on and explains how Clove became who she is today.

This was a story that normally wouldn’t be something I would have chosen without it being misplaced in the “thriller” category, but it was a good read. I had part of the ending pegged right away, but there was a second part that was revealed and that I did NOT see coming, though looking back, there were tiny clues. I liked that the book was basically a letter, but wasn’t written in a letter format - that would have taken away from the great flow of the book. I still prefer the scary stuff, but occasionally I get an oops ARC in genres I normally don’t gravitate towards. I’m always so happy when they turn out to be good, and this one was. Four stars!

(Thank you to Little, Brown and Company, Chelsea Bieker and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on September 3, 2024.)

Wow, this is quite a story! Lots of heaviness but also resolution that leads to healing. Clove grew up in an abusive home. Now, as an adult and mother, above all she wants a normal, safe home life. But secrets have a way of polluting even the purest environments and the truth is the only way to get past it.

I love when I find an author who writes so perfectly for me. The way Chelsea Bieker uses her words to tell the story just couldn't gel any better for me. It felt like I was meant to read her books. I know that may sound a little woo woo but it's the truth!

The character of Clove was so interesting to me. She appeared as if she had it all figured out while slowly crumbling down. I think the use of social media in the story was very well done too. Sometimes it comes off in a way that seems so cringey.

I will definitely read more by the author.

Thanks to NetGalley, Chelsea Bieker, and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read Madwoman. I have written this review voluntarily.

This is a book that will stay with me for a long time—it seeped into my bones and thoughts. It’s a compelling, intensely personal, and raw piece of writing that is also deeply engaging and suspenseful. I fell in love with Bieker’s Godshot years ago, and even then, I knew she was an author who would shake things up with her bold style. With this latest novel, she delivers a powerhouse story about secrets and motherhood, weaving in a yearning for self-understanding that feels both concrete and relatable, yet abstract and slippery at the same time.

Bieker's ability to balance the rawness of human experience with suspenseful, gripping storytelling is remarkable, making this book a standout that lingers long after the final page.

“The world is not made for mothers. Yet mothers made the world.”
Such a powerful, emotional and dark story.
Clove is a loving mother and wife. You may think she has it all with her organic living and loving family but underneath it all she has dark secrets. And with one letter and meeting a friend, they start to come out.
This story touches on domestic violence, grief, motherhood, trauma and addiction.
Thank you Netgalley for the copy.

Clove’s childhood was incredibly awful and ended with complete destruction. Not knowing what else to do, she walks away from it all. Years later, with a new name, a sweet husband and two small children, Clive is doing a pretty believable impression of normality. Until a letter arrives from prison asking for a favor and her spiral begins. This is a powerful book about motherhood and love. Trigger warnings for abuse.

I fear I will be screaming at the top of my lungs about this book for the foreseeable future. THIS is how you write about the cycle of abuse in an accurate, valuable way. I felt every emotion possible while reading - it’s tough and an emotional gut punch, but also warm and surprisingly funny at parts. It encapsulates motherhood from all angles: how far would you go, how deep is your love, how many mistakes can be forgiven. And I haven’t even mentioned the mystery element that kept me enrapt, anxiously speed reading with tears in my eyes. In short: the perfect book.