“The Night Child” by Anna Quinn

As a psychotherapist, I worked with many clients who were abused as children. And I’ve read several novels that tackle the issue of traumatic abuse and resulting dissociation, in which the victim’s hurt “parts” surface after a long period of repression. So I was eager to read the recently released, highly acclaimed THE NIGHT CHILD, by Anna Quinn, with whom I’m Facebook friends and who owns the Imprint Bookstore in Port Townsend, WA. Lately, I’ve read a string of books that didn’t keep my interest, including “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”, which has a dissociative theme I found portrayed in a ridiculous, inaccessible way. THE NIGHT CHILD sounded like a winner.

Nora, the novel’s protagonist, immediately drew me in. A high school English teacher in Seattle, unhappily married wife to Paul, and mother to six year old Fiona, Nora is startled and disturbed when a face appears to her, of a child she doesn’t recognize. The story follows Nora as she comes to grips with that child, her abusive past, and the healing that must occur for her to deal with the present.

I found THE NIGHT CHILD very readable and stayed with it for longer periods of time than I’ve been able to with other books. I like Anna Quinn’s writing—it’s lovely, straightforward, and strong. I felt for Nora, for her struggle to face her past, for her mixed feelings about her failing marriage, and for the pain and joy her daughter brings her. I “got” her distress about how her family members react to her in the midst of her distress. I pulled for her. I cared.

David, Nora’s therapist, did, in my opinion, a good job of helping Nora uncover, contain, and process her painful memories. Any difficulty on my part with what David did was probably due more to my placing myself in the “therapist” position, which wouldn’t happen with most readers. I did question the timing of Nora’s healing journey—I’ve not had clients in which “parts” reveal themselves so quickly, and aspects of Nora’s process seemed too fast to me. I liked the ending—not too “pat”, open to interpretation.

THE NIGHT CHILD is published at an important time in our understanding of childhood abuse. Trauma-based dissociation is real and rampant, and, though most people will understandably not explore it through science or a psychological journal, they will gain insight into it through Nora’s humanness and to how well Anna Quinn portrays her and her struggle. We need as much identification with each other as we can get. THE NIGHT CHILD offers that in an engrossing way.

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