First published 2024
Soldier addresses her toddler son Sailor as she recounts their first years together. She spends her days moving between baby groups, playgrounds, and grocery stores while her husband works late into the night. The terrible twos stretch endlessly as Soldier loses touch with who she was before motherhood arrived. Her marriage shows signs of strain under the weight of sleepless nights and shifting roles. Questions about fairness, independence, and her abandoned creative life plague her thoughts. When she bumps into someone from her former work life, the encounter offers a glimpse of her previous self. Through this bedtime story format, Soldier explores how fierce maternal love collides with a complete upheaval of identity. Kilroy captures both the exhaustion and intensity of early parenthood after more than ten years since her last novel.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, family-life, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family
Period: 21st-Century
241 pages · Kindle Edition · Scribner