Honor Jones's debut novel, Sleep, is a breathtaking character study of a woman raising young daughters and facing memories of childhood abuse.
Margaret's 1990s New Jersey upbringing seems idyllic, but upper-middle-class suburbia conceals the perils of a dysfunctional family headed by Elizabeth, a narcissistic, controlling mother. Elizabeth overreacts to messes in her immaculate home and to Margaret's perceived infractions. When 10-year-old Margaret is molested by a male relative one summer, she instinctively knows not to confide in Elizabeth, whose history of suicide attempts suggests a failure to cope with life's challenges.
Cut to Margaret in her mid-30s, now a struggling Brooklyn-based editor and divorced mother of two. Every essay submitted for her consideration is #MeToo-themed, and Elizabeth's illness returns her to the family home; it's time to confront her repressed trauma. The sexual assault mostly took place while Margaret was asleep--a passive state during which neither consent nor refusal seemed possible. Sleep should equate to cozy safety ("All in a line were pictures of sleeping children" on her parents' wall), but here it represents vulnerability. "She would be watchful and hopeful at the same time," Margaret vows. "That was basically parenting, right? Joy, and vigilance."
Jones crafts unforgettable, crystalline scenes. There are subtle echoes throughout as the past threatens to repeat. (In particular, pool parties are pivotal.) The author also sensitively tracks Margaret's sexual awakening while she and her ex form new partnerships. Reminiscent of Sarah Moss's and Evie Wyld's work, and astonishing for its psychological acuity, this promises great things from Jones. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck