Madwoman

About the book

'Chelsea Bieker breathes thrilling, risky energy into the familiar trope of the madwoman... A well-paced and absorbing page-turner.' New York Times

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.

'A truly stunning read – this is my book of the year.'Ella Berman

A Time Magazine 'Most Anticipated Book of Fall 2024'

Praise for this book:

"Madwoman is brilliant. The rare kind of book that lives in your bones, as riveting as it is intimate. This is emotional suspense at its best, but it's also a chronicle of modern womanhood, an exploration of what mothers and daughters do to and for each other, and an ode to hope in the aftermath of trauma. Somehow, Bieker delivers all of this in a voice that is fresh, urgent, and darkly comic. A novel hasn't consumed me like this in a very long time. Madwoman is on my list of all-time favorites." - Ashley Audrain

"Much like motherhood itself, Madwoman is a book of beautiful contradictions - shattering and funny, thrilling and nuanced, heartbreaking and life-affirming, scathing yet sincere - -I devoured every perfect sentence about the scars we carry both from and for the ones we love. A truly stunning read - this is my book of the year." - Ella Berman

"Unputdownable. Harrowing while somehow also being deeply funny and furiously wise. Chelsea Bieker is a daredevil and a wonder." - Claudia Dey

"This intense, propulsive novel takes an age-old story right up to the minute. In portraying the exhausting attempt to overcome violence and safeguard loved ones, Bieker writes with urgency, integrity and emotional acuity." - Caoilinn Hughes

"Electrifying and vital, MADWOMAN is literary suspense of the highest order - a page turning study of motherhood, memory, and the menace of an untold past. Chelsea Bieker's propulsive, unsparing take on generational violence is potent and stylish, rendered in prose that's beautiful and devastating all the way down to the heart stopping and unforgettable end. Sexy and turbulent, witty and whip smart, this is a brilliant novel from a blazing, singular talent." - Kimberly King Parsons

"MADWOMAN lives at that harrowing edge where despair and violence collide. A story of deceit, delusion, love, and terror, this novel is a scream at dawn, an impossible-to-forget story told by an author whose work I will now forever adore." - Rachel Louise Snyder

"Run a live wire straight through the human heart and you might get close to what Chelsea Bieker has done in MADWOMAN, an astonishing, edge-of-your-seat story about an image-obsessed housewife trying to hold her violent childhood at bay. Darkly funny, heart-smashing, and absolutely unforgettable, MADWOMAN is a masterpiece." - Rachel Yoder