This breathtaking debut novel examines the impact of traumatic childhood experiences and the fragile line between past and present. Exquisitely nuanced and profoundly intimate, The Night Child is a story of resilience, hope, and the capacity of the mind, body, and spirit to save itself despite all odds.Nora Brown teaches high school English and lives a quiet life in Seattle with her husband and … Seattle with her husband and six-year-old daughter. But one November day, moments after dismissing her class, a girl’s face appears above the students’ desks—“a wild numinous face with startling blue eyes, a face floating on top of shapeless drapes of purples and blues where arms and legs should have been. Terror rushes through Nora’s body—the kind of raw terror you feel when there’s no way out, when every cell in your body, your entire body, is on fire—when you think you might die.”
Twenty-four hours later, while on Thanksgiving vacation, the face appears again. Shaken and unsteady, Nora meets with neurologists and eventually, a psychiatrist. As the story progresses, a terrible secret is discovered—a secret that pushes Nora toward an even deeper psychological breakdown.
“The Night Child is a powerful, beautifully written, transformative novel that struck a rare chord with me. When I recall Nora’s journey, I am affected viscerally, as if I were reliving her painful memories alongside her. ‘Must-read’ is not a phrase I use often; I am using it now: you must read this book!”—Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain
“Anna Quinn writes with bright and assured authority, making this a remarkable debut novel you won’t soon forget. Her haunting story, expertly and lovingly crafted, leaves you breathless with both terror and hope.”—Susan Wiggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“I loved this book so much…I entered Quinn’s book and lost myself and exited her book changed. She is hanging with the big dogs with this work…like Jodi Picoult and Ann Patchett.”—Lidia Yuknavitch, bestselling author of The Book of Joan
“The Night Child is an exhilarating debut: Quinn immediately pulls the reader in and doesn’t let go until the final scene. She commands each page and expertly dives into the inner working of a broken mind. This fast-paced, riveting novel of coping with the past while trying to salvage life in the present is hard to put down.” —Booklist
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Anna Quinn, in her debut novel, The Night Child, broaches the complex and unsettling issue of child sexual abuse.
Her protagonist, Nora Brown is a high school English teacher in Seattle. She lives with Paul, her husband, who she feels is having an affair, and Fiona, her luminescent six-year-old daughter. Just before Thanksgiving, Nora begins having hallucinations of a girl’s face with blue, blue eyes floating above purple and blue draperies of. Nora begins the round of physicians trying to make sense of these acute changes in her life.
One of the wonderful things about this book is how the chapters shift from Nora’s present to her past, imitating the shifting line between “real” and “unreal”—and the unreal that becomes all too real.
This poetic book is full of lovely lucid imagery offset by a permeating sense of apprehension. It is a story of a resilient young woman who fractures first to save herself, then breaks herself again in order to heal. It is a highly emotionally charged read that will leave you both wanting and dreading more.
The Night Child looks at the impact of childhood sexual abuse and children’s reactions to it. It is somewhat akin to the nonfiction book Sybil by Shirley Ardell Mason, but Nora’s psychic fragmentation is less severe. Sybil was written as a purported case history and considered to be nonfiction at the time it was originally released. As a physician, I was fascinated by Sybil’s multiple personalities as a case history. (There later developed a controversy as to whether Mason had invented and fictionalized Sybil’s narrative.)
The Night Child is clearly fiction and written so tightly in Nora’s point-of-view that the reader always has the sense of experiencing Nora’s trauma directly, thus eliciting an immediate identification with Nora and an emotional impact that a case history simply cannot. This is a must-read book, one that you can’t put down until the final page.
The things we hide from, emotionally, will either destroy us or heal us if (when) they choose to rear their ugly heads.
The Night Child is an example of what happens when we can no longer hide, but instead of heartbreaking, Anna Quinn gives hope when it seems there couldn’t possibly be any hope to give.
Beautifully, gut-wrenchingly told, this story is for anyone who has ever been where Nora finds herself and for everyone who thinks this couldn’t possibly happen. Because it could.
Quick read. Tragic. Drama. Well written. Interesting subject. Weird ending, I’m not sure I interpreted correctly.
Saying this book touched me on a very deep level doesn’t even come close to the impact I felt. It twisted my insides…rattled my brain…tore my emotions asunder. Nora’s destructive clash of past and present are mind-bending—not only for her, but for any reader who possesses even an ounce of empathy and/or humanity. Some scenes are more than a little hard to read, but the book is extraordinary, if one can endure those moments of helpless, emotional drowning. Any writer who can draw readers so thoroughly into a scene that all sense of self is lost, to merge completely with a character, has my vote. Any book that can make me lose myself, steal hours of sleep, and take me to the edges of my own sanity—that book deserves eight out of five stars. I’d give The Night Child at least that many. Sensational to the nth degree.
A journey too survival.
In this debut novel you will find a heart-breaking yet harrowing, transformative story. One that is profound, unpredictable, and deals with the unimaginable, the subject of incest survival.
Our protagonists life-struggle as a wife, a mother, teacher, and yes, one who must deal with emotional trauma due too abuse will lend to your compassion and hopefulness, as she comes to terms with the task of unlocking deep truths as to her past in order to heal and empower her future.
Nora, her husband, her daughter, mother, father and brother, play a major role in the illumination of psychological awareness as tidbits of her past begin to emerge into the present and grow into something no one sees coming. Not even Nora.
The authors depiction of mental illness throughout this narrative is written in a way as to not over-stimulate the reader, but keep us grounded to it’s depth and importance too the story.
Although the subject matter is powerful, and deals with the rawness of emotion, vulnerability and authenticity, it is masterfully crafted with finesse and will keep you emotionally invested through each and every turn of the page.
The strong, attentive look into the lives of our characters and how they tie in together through not only destruction, but in creation, has attributed to a stunning, yet beautifully moving and captivating read.
Thank you Anna Quinn for my gift of this ARC in order to read and review.
5 Stars
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Well, if you weren’t abused as a child, this book would probably entertain you. I found it enthralling. In the flip side, I feel that warn people who experienced any kind of abuse that this book is severely triggering. I was very interested in this story until almost exactly halfway through, then I *stopped* reading very abruptly to write this review, to remove this book from my Kindle, and to attempt to distract myself. I just hope I can move on. And I’m not saying that as a ringing endorsement. That is, the book is good. It’s engrossing. But if you have experienced any type of abuse in your childhood, this one will probably hit too close. I would say don’t read it. I would say trust me. It seems like it’s just a good story and then all the sudden, it’s hitting way too close. If you have abuse in your background, if that’s your situation, I would say don’t read it. I have been through a lot of treatment and I have dealt with it, but bang! All the sudden I couldn’t deal with it anymore. That’s all I’ll say. Just don’t read it. It’s nothing special if you’ve been there already anyway – just another trip into the darkness.
I have never read this type of book. Very haunting, tragic story.. and very frightening to hear what incense does to a child and so very blessed not to have experienced this.
The Night Child by Anna Quinn is a book that had to be written, deserves to be read and begs to be discussed. It is a finely nuanced story of how past trauma begins to break through to disrupt a teacher’s normal, every-day life. It deeply resonated with me. This is an important book – an engaging, terrifying and compassionately honest journey from the depths of bitter trauma to a promise of hope.
Amazing memoir. Couldn’t believe her life and what she was able to accomplish. A great read.
Well written but little new to say on a sad but worn subject.
Very informative especially as it is very relevant today
Wow! Expected a different type of book.
Loved the book I got.
Characters wonderfully lovable and others hatefully despicable!
Would love to see this made into a movie!
The Night Child by Anna Quinn
January 2018
I received this digital ARC from publisher, Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Nora Brown is a high school English teacher who begins to experience debilitating headaches and visions around the time of her daughter, Fiona’s 6th birthday. These symptoms bring her to neurologists and psychiatrists to assess the cause of her visions and the raw terror she experiences as a result.
As the story unfolds, Nora uncovers past regressed memories from her childhood in therapy. Her story explores the ability within to rival against the experiences of the past and forge a new reality.
When the book seemed to end in an unusual fashion, I was taken back to the beginning of the book where Nora is discussing Virginia Woolf’s “To the Lighthouse” with her students. She cites how it takes daring writers to veer from the traditional story of beginning, middle and end. There are some interesting correlations between Nora and Virginia which I could only realize upon completion of the novel. Consequently, what appeared to be an abrupt ending suddenly became more thought provoking.
I agree with other reviewers that the book description does not portray an accurate picture of what to expect from this book. Honestly, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would based on he description. When I started reading It felt oddly like a “paranormal” story which is not my preferred genre. After a few chapters I was beginning to see how the story would come together. I don’t like giving spoilers but given that many reviewers have already disclosed certain aspects of the story, I shall add my opinion on the book description.
The description mentions “split consciousness” and a “deeper psychological breakdown”. I believe that it makes sense to disclose the history of sexual abuse. Because I’m a tune to these issues, I immediately considered abuse as the root of her visions and trauma which would make this book difficult to read for some people. What made this story unique was how it used split consciousness and psychological support to delve into how people handle trauma differently.
I seem to be among the minority that did not like this book. In fact, I put it down then read the glowing reviews and finished it. It was ok, not really great in my opinion . It told the story of a teacher who begins to recover repressed memories of childhood abuse . Unfortunately the characters are poorly developed. Her unlikeable husband is cheating on her, she’s falling for her principal. The biggest flaw is how overly sensational the description of repression is. She’s got another alter personality (DID is rare) and throws herself in front of a car unintentionally landing in a mental hospital. Most trauma work is done on an outpatient basis. Probably the biggest flaw was the writing which was not engaging. I am going with 2 stars.
Couldn’t get into this one. May try again later.
Loved it all the way through until the ending which was rather abrupt as tho’ the author got tired of writing.
It was more like a psychological text than a meaningful fiction book.
Heart wrenching story about a woman’s secret. Her struggle to survive her emotions and her life.
I found this book haunting, but sad. It is always a little unsettling when you discover that what you remember about those you admire, isn’t Inline with factual reality. It also makes me want to examine the “labels”we bestow upon our children, grandchildren, and elders too.
This book was great! I couldn’t stop reading. I finished it in two days.