Kindle Edition
Expected publication February 14, 2023
4/5 Stars
You ever read a book that's so crazy and just out there, that at times you start to question your own sanity? Well, that's exactly what Zoje Stage did to me with her upcoming horror novel Mothered. It's an odd mixture of sibling rivalry, the horrors of the pandemic, and an exploration of a strained relationship between a mother and a daughter, who are suddenly living together after years apart. And it isn't only their differences that make their current living arrangements so difficult, but also the past and what will be unburied during their time together.
It's clear that Mothered takes place during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, when we all still thought it might just blow over. But even in her writing, Stage makes it clear how wrong we all were. She perfectly captured the horror we felt at being locked into our own homes, and just like Grace, many of us simply couldn't deal with being stuck inside all day. On top of that the she looses her job, and is now forced to let her estranged mother move into her cozy little home. But with the arrival of her mother also come the old memories of her dead sister; memories Grace has been trying to forget all her life. Yet, her mother won't let her, and she seems to stop at nothing to make Grace see the truth, even if it means plunging into a lockdown fueled nightmare.
A big shout out to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc!