“Striking… Maiuri’s prose is empathetic and remarkable.”
— Melissa Chadburn, The New York Times Book Review
A novel about family secrets and a volatile relationship between a mother and her daughters.
Growing up in working class Boston in an Italian American family, Anna’s childhood was sparse but comfortable—filled with homemade meals and front-porch gatherings in their neighborhood. Anna and her sisters are devoted to their mother, orbiting her like the sun, trying to keep up with her loving but mercurial nature. When their father gets a new job outside the city, the family is tossed unceremoniously into a middle-class suburban existence. Anna’s mother is suddenly adrift, and the darkness lurking inside her ignites. Her daughters, isolated and trapped with her in the new house, do everything they can to keep her from unraveling.
Alternating between childhood and Anna’s twenties, in which she receives a call about her mother that threatens to blow up her own precariously constructed life in New York, Mother In the Dark asks whether we can return home when home is fraught with instability. A story about sisterhood, the complications of class, and the chains of inheritance between mothers and daughters, Mother In the Dark delivers an unvarnished portrayal of a young woman consumed by her past and a family teetering on the edge.
Praise for Mother In the Dark:
“Wrenching and poignant… Maiuri brings nuance to the heavy subject matter... Fans of Justin Torres’s We the Animals will find a lot to like.” — Publishers Weekly
“Striking… Maiuri’s prose is empathetic and remarkable, a meditation on the kind of attention a girl can bestow upon her mother, even when unrequited.” — The New York Times Book Review
“A tender and vulnerable story in the vein of memoirs like Educated and The Glass Castle, Maiuri’s debut novel peels back layers of multigenerational trauma in a complicated, dysfunctional family.” — Booklist
“Mother In the Dark ruined a night of sleep as it sped towards its irresistible climax.” — The Millions
“I loved every sentence of this exquisite debut. Kayla Maiuri’s writing pulses with emotion and wisdom; it cuts deeply and swells to an ending that moved me to tears. Mother In the Dark is one of those rare novels that will stay with you for a very long time.” — Sanaë Lemoine, author of The Margot Affair
“I was deeply moved by this book about motherhood, sisterhood, and friendship; about love that wounds and sorrow that shapes a life; about the pleasure and strain of a home. A stunning novel by a percipient and generous author.” — Ayşegül Savaş author of White on White and The Anthropologists
“Beautifully written and unsparing in its willingness to engage with all the ways that love and hurt are always and impossibly linked, Mother In the Dark is an evocative exploration of how we are both haunted and sustained by the people and the places that we’re from.” — Lynn Steger Strong, author of Want and Flight
“A gorgeous novel with profound insights into what keeps a family together and what it takes to shake off the stranglehold of the past, Mother In the Dark casts a riveting spell. You will relish every word.” — Daniel Loedel, author of Hades, Argentina
“Mother In the Dark delivers a haunting story of the complex binds between mother and daughter, and how we are shaped by our families. Tender and unsparing, this is a novel to hold onto.” — Crystal Hana Kim, author of If You Leave Me
“Kayla Maiuri has written a freshly imagined, emotionally precise novel. Here is an honest book rich in detail and empathy. Here is an exciting new voice in fiction.” — Sam Lipsyte, author of The Fun Parts and The Ask
“This is a masterfully written novel, alive and lyrical, a hypnotic rendering of the mess and the tenderness of family life.” — Claire Lombardo, author of The Most Fun We Ever Had
“There is much to admire in this beautifully written, unsentimental, deeply knowing novel. Maiuri is wise beyond her years, and fearless in her exploration of the ways that mothers and daughters are uniquely equipped to hurt each other.” — Elissa Schappell, author of Blueprints for Building Better Girls