Madwoman

Clove's life appears - at least on the surface - to be very controlled, very clean, very 'Gwyneth-Paltrow-Goop-Inspired'. But there is an undercurrent of chaos against which she is constantly battling, until the day when she receives a letter from her mother, incarcerated in a women's prison, and everything explodes.

Chelsea Bieker explores the experience of parental / partner violence and its ongoing ramifications on the lives of survivors in this novel, with deftness and a light hand and sometimes even with real comedy, but without ever downplaying its seriousness or impact. It's a really brilliantly pitched and written novel and I feel sure there are prize nominations to come.