On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn’t have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.
Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is a story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.
Picoult never shies away from difficult subject matter, and here she shines a light on postpartum psychosis and the devastating fallout both the condition and its under-diagnosis can cause. A few late-in-the-game melodramatic developments don’t undercut what is ultimately a powerful and deeply affecting exploration of grief, loss, guilt, and enduring love.
An intricate, twisty family drama spanning decades in both directions ... Picoult supplies her signature delightful banter and gift for depicting passion and romance ... The queen of social activist novels has done it again. Impressive, important, and fun to read.
Poignant if heavy-handed ... Eloise’s story careens into a major plot twist, followed by another one involving Evie, and while both feel contrived, they yield thoughtful insights into the nature of mother-daughter relationships. This melodrama has its moments.
