A touching,poignant story of a woman coming to terms with her past. The story is charmingly told as we, and Nora, uncover the past she's tried to forget. The book deals in difficult topics but does so in thoughtful way. Mental health is so often stigmatized, and this story was a beautiful testimony to those who work hard through past trauma to heal.

As a psychologist, I have an issue with much of the depictions of multiple personalities and repressed memories. With that said, some may find this story of a woman battling to come to grips with childhood abuse touching.

As an avid reader (and English teacher), I am often leary of debut novels as they tend to lack in depth and development. However, The Night Child managed to intrigue enough, in the first ten pages, to promise that nothing else of value would be accomplished until I finished the twisting tale.

This novel slowly began....narrating the thoughts of an English teacher in desperate need of a break, but quickly escalated into a schema on repressed memories. But, the question is who's memories are accurate?

The exploration of familial and societal roles is central to this text. Quinn delves into the confines of daughter, sister, wife, patient, teacher, student, mother and lastly, self. Through the process, the reader is offered very few boundaries as the lines between are not simply hesitant, they are often erased.

The pacing of the novel is brilliant; as Nora's awareness is heightened, the text too becomes quite fractured and is often composed through her narrative stream of consciousness. Ever present, in Nora's realm is the notion of her own sanity and its reflection upon others.

Although some aspects of character development were lacking; overall, The Night Child was an immensely thought provoking text which allows readers to enter a mind of repressed memories.

Thank you, NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this tect.

Nora Brown is an ordinary everyday english teacher in a slightly stagnant marriage with a wonderful six year old daughter, Fiona. However everyday life starts to fall to pieces when Nora discovers she has to face her past in order to have a future.
I very much enjoyed this book. It would be tempting to disregard this as yet another book about past abuse coming to the surface. However, I felt that this book was better than that. The author approached the subject in a very sensitive manner enabling the reader to empathise with Nora. It made total sense as to why these issues were coming to the surface now and how hard Nora was trying to hold everything together. Little Fiona was a real beacon in this book, a real symbol of hope.
The only issue I had with this book was the ending. It wasn't that it left things unresolved as I could construct the future for most of the characters. It was the abruptness. It was almost as if the author couldn't think of where to take Nora next so ended it rather abruptly in a slightly ambiguous manner.
The book flowed well with a good storyline which made sense. The characters were very three dimensional & believable. None of the characters was particularly nasty, they were just people like everyone else.
I would definitely search out other books by this author.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

Great book! Looking forward to reading more by this author! Highly recommend!

Kate Quinn does not disappoint! I love to read a book that allows the reader to feel real emotion! This book does it! I felt as I was right in the book with the main character. A great story of a mother, wife, teacher, it told the story in a way that a lot if us who where molested as children could relate to. Her dress was the Valentine's Dress mine was the birthday dress. I highly recommend this book to everyone to read, whether or not you experienced childhood abuse or not. I also liked how Kate developed each character in this novel. For me it was very healing to read I hope it will be the same for others. Hopefully it also shows people what survivors go through. This is a must read

Thank you to Anna Quinn (the author), Blackstone Publishing, and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of The Night Child. I rated a solid 4 stars.

First off, this book needs a trigger warning. It contains sexual violence and child abuse, including fairly graphic descriptions of both. If this is not your type of book, make sure to pass on it given its content.

When I read the premise of the book, I thought it sounded unique (and I had no idea it involved sexual violence/child abuse from the description, which reveals part of the plot I suppose). I decided to try it out because of the unusual description - a high school English teacher named Nora starts suffering from debilitating headaches and seeing the face of a disembodied child. She thinks she's losing it, or suffering from a severe medical issue. Her home life is likewise falling apart; her spouse is disengaged and impatient with her, and doesn't seem to really care at all about her health issues. The most important people in Nora's life are the students she teaches, and her young daughter Fiona, who she adores.

Scared of what is going on in her head (literally and metaphorically), Nora seeks out a psychiatrist. Her sessions slowly reveal her tragic childhood, one that is coming back to haunt her in the present. Secrets are revealed, and the mystery of Nora's mental and physical health is unraveled as the plot unfolds.

I read this book in a day and a half during a really busy couple of days. The writing is excellent, and while the subject matter isn't something I would usually read (especially a story dealing with child abuse), I was able to tolerate the subject matter because the story was compelling and seemed real. I identified with the characters and wanted to know how the story resolves.

To summarize: a quick but terrifying read through a damaged human psyche.

This book really pulls you in. It is very relatable in an unexpected way. Great story!

Wow. What an incredible debut novel. I'm going to be thinking about this one for months...

Nora Brown is a teacher. A floating face appears in her classroom one afternoon and then again at home the following day. Filled with terror, she meets with neurologists and then psychologists to try and work out why she is hallucinating. Her sessions with the psychologist help her to uncover a deep, dark secret which she has managed to force herself to forget.

The characters in this book are so well written. I found myself completely able to identify with Nora, despite having absolutely nothing in common with her. I really did find myself on the edge of my seat whilst I was reading - I'm not sure I've really sympathised or cared as much about a character before.

I'll admit that from the blurb given, I wasn't especially excited about this book, but it really has got to me. I was beyond gripped right from the beginning of the story, and completely shocked by the route it actually took. I found myself researching 'split consciousness,' something I was fairly unaware of before. I'll take my hat off to Quinn for writing so well about such a complex topic and tying it in so well to such a gripping story.

An absolute page turner - suspenseful, dark and also quite heartbreaking - as I said before, this one will actually stay with me for a while. I can't stop thinking about it. Well done Anna Quinn - I would LOVE to see more from you!

Thank You Net Galley for the free ARC.

Nora is an English teacher who starts seeing visions of a blue eyed child. She is frightened by her hallucinations and starts seeing a psychiatrist to look for an explanation. Many things hidden come out during her sessions.

Nora wonders if she’s losing her mind. The high school English teacher is horrified to see the face of a girl floating over her students desks during the middle of a school day. One day later, she sees the face again, and this time it speaks to her. Nora sees both a neurologist and a psychiatrist, sho help her remember a terrifying incident from her child, something she’s buried so deeply, she’s forgotten it ever occurred