by Aimee Molloy
First published 2018
Winnie reluctantly leaves her six week old son Midas with a babysitter on a sweltering Fourth of July night in Brooklyn. She joins the other May Mothers, a group of new moms who gave birth in the same month, for drinks at a local bar. The women meet twice weekly in Prospect Park, sharing the struggles of early motherhood. When Winnie returns home, Midas is gone. Police ask probing questions while media attention turns Winnie's private life into public spectacle. The reserved single mother finds herself at the center of a bungled investigation. Three women from the May Mothers group take dangerous risks to help find the missing baby, despite barely knowing Winnie. The search exposes buried secrets and tests marriages as the mothers face intense scrutiny. Friendships form and shatter under pressure while the community searches for answers about what happened that night.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Brooklyn, Prospect Park
Period: Fourth of July
317 pages · Hardcover · Harper
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness