"Once upon a time, they said, a wicked mother gave birth to a daughter. The daughter appeared to be very sick...for 18 years, no doctor could figure out what was wrong with her." The daughter was rescued and it turns out that the mother had been behind the many ailments all along. "The mother had to be punished."
Rose Gold Watts was 18 years old when her mother went to prison for aggravated child abuse. Freed from the torment of constant illness, Rose Gold has to make a life for herself. Unfortunately, she's not emotionally equipped to do so having been controlled by her mother, Patty, for so long. Unable to form new, sustaining and meaningful relationships, Rose Gold can't help but be angry. But now, 5 years have passed and "Poisonous Patty" is due for release. And Rose Gold has offered to pick her up.
NO SPOILERS.
What a story! Though the central conflict is the mother-daughter relationship, it is complicated by the Munchausen Syndrome by proxy element. There are themes of childhood abuse, abandonment, revenge and mental instability. Told in the alternating viewpoints of both Rose Gold and Patty, the narrative also flips back and forward in time. The book was impossible to put down so I read it over a couple of hours in one sitting. I anticipated that there would be twists and turns and knew there would be a dramatic conclusion although I wasn't sure what form it would take. Honestly, I didn't like either of the two main characters but I could definitely empathize with how each of the women became who they were. The writing was excellent and it is a very impressive debut in the psychological fiction category.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this e-book ARC to read, review and recommend.
This is a standalone, debut, and is not part of any series.
Genre -- psychological fiction
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