Holding The Baby

by Polly Braden, Claire-Louise Bennett, Sally Williams

First published 2022

Clare Matthews stares out her small flat's window, her six-week-old daughter silent in the bassinet. Her husband works long finance hours, her mother lives hours away, and London feels suddenly cavernous and strange. When a neighbor begins leaving cryptic notes about motherhood—part warning, part threat—Clare realizes her growing exhaustion might be concealing something more dangerous than typical new parent stress. As her perception of safety narrows to the size of her apartment, she must determine whether the danger is external or emerging from within her own fractured mental state. A razor-sharp exploration of maternal vulnerability and urban loneliness.

Genres: domestic-fiction, suspense, mystery, contemporary, psychological-thriller, family-drama

Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: unreliable-narrator, urban-setting

Setting: London

Period: 21st-century

Paperback · Dewi Lewis Publishing

Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness

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