by Brad Watson
First published 2011
A young married couple settles into their new life together when two escapees from a local asylum appear at their door. The unexpected encounter forces the newlyweds to confront how little they truly know about each other and themselves. Watson explores the fragile boundaries of marriage through characters struggling with uncontrollable children, disconnected partners, and the violence that lurks beneath ordinary relationships. Spouses drift apart while families fracture under the weight of abuse and neglect. Death and divorce leave survivors grappling with profound isolation. The stories reveal how domestic life contains its own forms of madness, where the line between sanity and chaos proves thinner than anyone wants to admit. Through precise observation of human frailty, Watson captures both the cruelty people inflict on each other and the unexpected moments of tenderness that emerge from suffering.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
272 pages · Kindle Edition · W. W. Norton Company
Content warnings: mental-illness, violence