Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker

 

Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker.

Published 5th September 2024 by Oneworld Publications.

From the cover of the book:

CLOVE HAS SPENT YEARS BUILDING THE PERFECT LIFE. IT'S ABOUT TO COME CRASHING DOWN.

To the outside world, Clove has it all. But then a letter arrives from a women's prison in California – a letter that threatens to expose the secrets of a past she has worked so hard to hide. Thanks to her lies, Clove has the life of her dreams, complete with a kind, reliable husband, two adorable children and a stable family home.

So what, if silencing the memories of her own abusive childhood means racking up a little credit card debt or obsessing about her wellness routine? Nothing to see here. But secret past and insta-perfect present are about to collide thanks to her mother's unwelcome return, and soon Clove becomes caught up in a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the very people she thought she had outrun.

Brave, hilarious and full of surprising twists, Madwoman is a story about violence, recovery, and Clove's refusal to be defined by her worst experiences.

***********

Clove has spent years curating her life to become the perfect wife and mother, making the kind of family she longed for as a child. The coping mechanisms she relies on to get by barely keep her memories in check, but so far she has managed to keep her secrets, and her substantial credit card debt, from her husband.

Despite all her efforts, Clove's tragic past eventually threatens to destroy this Insta-perfect existence. She receives a letter from a Californian women's prison, which can only mean one thing - her mother, imprisoned for killing Clove's violent father years ago, has finally found her, and wants something from her that she is not prepared to give. Her life begins to unravel as she struggles to keep her secrets, but the games she is forced to play only bring the truth about her abusive family history right to her door...

Chelsea Bieker's Madwoman explores the far-reaching effects of domestic violence. The story moves between the present and the past, flipping between Clove's desperate attempts to hold her life together in the face of a threat to expose the fiction she has created, and scenes from her childhood that paint a disturbing picture of what it was like for her growing up with a violent father. 

The tempo of the story is rather slow-burn, for the most part, delving into Clove's fractured personality and the things she does to survive the experiences she has spent her adult life running from, and Bieker incorporates a shed-load of insightfully explored themes about how her past has shaped her behaviour, identity, and ideas of self-worth. There are so many thought-provoking issues to pick up on here, particularly around Clove's heart-felt determination to break the cycle of family dysfunction, even though she has no idea what 'normal' relationships and parenthood look like; her complex feelings about her parents; and confronting the ever-present fear that a tendency to violence might lie somewhere within her, her children, or the husband she has chosen.

Bieker pulls no punches in getting into the nitty gritty of Clove's upsetting childhood, and she writes well about the dilemma that has Clove caught between a longing to confide in someone and the secrets she feels she must keep. In her present, there are many relatable moments when you are immersed in absurd and painful scenes that come with managing small children, marriage, dealing with critical in-laws, and losing a sense of self, while she walks a knife-edge. Along the way, the little pieces of Clove's past come together, eventually revealing the full truth about what happened the night her father died. Bieker almost pulls a fast one here, weaving a psychological thriller plot rife with unexpected twists into the midst of a literary family drama about the legacy of violence. Suddenly the pace of the story explodes with threads that are about more than keeping Clove's secrets, and although I think Bieker ties these threads off a little too neatly, the message of healing and hope that the change of direction brings is satisfying.

At its heart, this is an acutely observed novel that leaves you with a lot to ponder, which is probably to be expected given the very personal introduction about Bieker's own family history. The mix of pace and plotlines may divide the crowd, but Bieker's writing style is remarkably engaging given the subject matter. I also very much enjoyed the vein of dark humour  that runs through the story, mostly around Clove's American Psycho level of fixation with all things 'wellness' and her out-of-control shopping habits. And there is something really striking about how she muses on the difference between madwoman and mad woman, and views about controlling relationships.

Madwoman is available to buy now in hardcover, ebook and audio formats.

Thank you to Oneworld for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review.

About the author:

Chelsea Bieker is the author of the debut novel Godshot, which was a finalist for both the Oregon and California Book Awards, longlisted for The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and named a Barnes & Noble Pick of the Month. Her story collection, Heartbroke, was a New York Times 'Best California Book of 2022' and an NPR Best Book of the Year. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, Granta, The Cut, McSweeney's, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writers' Award, as well as residencies at MacDowell and Tin House. 

Originally from California's Central valley, she lives in Portland, Oregon with her family.