Absolutely breath-taking, MADWOMAN takes the domestic thriller to a whole new literary level.

Reminiscent of THE PUSH and THE RECOVERY OF ROSE GOLD, Bieker takes several captivating issues and blends them into one tense, sinister, and thoroughly page-turning thriller.

I don't want to give too much away, but if you love thrillers, this is an absolute must read.

4.5 stars!
As charli xcx would say on brat - i think the apples rotten right to the core
Wow!! This was such an unbelievably captivating read.
With a plot that kept me hooked from page one. If you like complex stories about generational trauma and morally ambiguous characters, this is definitely for you.
I'm often not shocked by plot twists, but this one really did get me. I do think I would've enjoyed if the book was a tad longer and tied up some loose ends, but other than that it was brilliant.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for access To this arc.

Told in the first party voice of Clove, and effectively addressed to her absent mother, we immediately realise that Clove – outwardly a whole foods and health supplement obsessed, Instagram-influencer mother of a seven year old girl and three year old boy, living with her husband in reasonable prosperity in Portland – lived a very different life as a child with the threat of violence from her father (particularly towards her mother) ever present.

And quickly after (and this is not a spoiler as it is revealed in the start of the second chapter) we realise that she is living something of a double life – firstly hiding a debt-racking-up online shopping issue from her husband, but more seriously the fact that – rather than the story he believes that she was orphaned by a car crash when around 17 – her mother was convicted of murdering her father, she fleeing the scene and adopting, with the contrivance of a sympathetic neighbour, the identity of Celine (the neighbours chronically sick daughter of the same age, now many years later dead).

Now a letter from her mother in prison threatens to unmoor the life she has carefully created and curated – including a husband she picked for both his safety and normality and that, unlike her first lover and soulmate, he knows nothing of her past. Her mother, who she had not realised knew where she lived – she immediately thinks her earlier lover must be to blame and contacts him for the first time after running out on him – wants her help for an appeal that she is hatching with the help of an activist feminist lawyer.

And into the mix Clove becomes obsessed with Jane – a glamourous if rather adrift woman she literally runs into (with her car in her confusion after getting the letter) and then subsequently meets working at her favourite health store. When Clove offers the homeless Jane board in exchange for acting as a nanny for the children, the relationship starts to veer off the rails, with Jane increasingly wanting to influence her decisions (and hoping that Clove will agree to birth child for her to adopt).

And from there the book which seems to circle around the same ideas albeit with increasing tension, suddenly unwinds itself with a series of revelations.

Overall I think this will appeal to many fans of psychological drama.

I’m struggling to write up a review for this one. From the get go, it was emotional. Packed full of trauma and heartbreak, I immediately felt for Clove and her past experiences. Bieker writes in such a way that really makes the reader understand what the characters are going through. I wanted nothing more than to reach through the pages and help her.

My struggle came with the writing and the pacing. I enjoyed the writing style for most of the novel, I just felt it to be a little repetitive towards the middle and the end. So much of the focus was on the past, that the plot twist at the end felt almost rushed. In saying that, I did find myself unable to put the book down at around the 70% mark, I had to finish it and find out whether or not Clove and Celine would be okay.

A powerful story about abuse and the strength of women, Madwoman tells a story that is all too familiar for so many women, and a story that still desperately needs to be told.

A searing and insightful depiction of motherhood across generations, and the ties that bind and harm and make us who we are. Bieker writes with such verve and confidence, and with so much empathy and consideration, taking into account the trauma of the past, the challenges of the present and the uncertainty of the future. This is not simply a ruthless indictment of the violence faced by so many women at the mercy of brutal men, but a compassionate tale of redemption, family and overcoming immense odds. A future bestseller I'm sure.

A cut above the usual domestic thrillers, this precisely written account of a thirtysomething woman's unravelling and remaking herself is a summer must-read. Clove, formerly known as Calla Lily, escaped her childhood of abuse and horror by taking her childhood best friend's identity and leaving Hawaii. Now, in her thirties with two children, addicted to clean eating and Gwyneth Paltrow-style shopping, she finds her past catching up with her when she receieves a mysterious letter from a women's correctional facility, and is forced to relive her memories of first love as well as the horrors and small joys of her childhood. And why is she so drawn to the mysterious Jane at the Whole Foods-style local market - is it romantic, or does she feel like she knows this woman already? Original, strange and definitely worth a read.

This is a novel about the long reach of parental abuse. The trauma of the protagonist’s childhood is evident in her panicked, almost stream-of-consciousness narration years after she’s settled into a stable marriage. I guessed the likely turn of events, but that’s not a negative reflection on the author; I read way too many thrillers. Ideal for fans of vivid literary suspense.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

There have been lots of “messy women” novels in the last few years but this one stood out from the crowd. I’m drawn to novels with mother-daughter relationships and this story of a woman desperate to protect her family from her own past when her mother, incarcerated for the murder of her abusive father, writes to her out of the blue. Madwoman is a literary domestic thriller that I’ll be recommending to lots of people.

I’m always looking to discover new talent to share with readers in the literary world. I’m very excited for this new read and looking forward to sharing my full thoughts and review very soon!