“Such a Good Mom” is a suspenseful, multilayered beach read with grit and meaning. Outwardly blessed with a healthy newborn and a successful husband from one of Edgartown’s “royal” families, Brynn Nelson should be glowing. However, in her third novel, Julia Spiro once again pulls back the curtain to reveal a nuanced story set on Martha’s Vineyard.
Straightaway, the preface all is not sunshine and roses: “Like most New England summertime destinations, Martha’s Vineyard was no stranger to tragedy, though it often hid deep in the island’s underbelly, safely tucked away from tourists, rarely disrupting their cycle of lobster rolls and blue-sky beach days. But real islanders … knew far too well that tragedy was, actually, everywhere … all the time, waiting to strike.”
Tragedy does strike on page two. On a perfect day in late June, the body of a young woman is found on the shores of Norton Point Beach. And while the Vineyard has not been spared terrible accidental deaths, Spiro kicks it up a notch: “But this time was different … Once the island learned who this person was, who she knew, and what she knew, the island realized that this wasn’t an accident at all. This was murder.”
Turning the page, we don’t dive into the crime. Instead, we meet Brynn, a character Spiro fashions with devastating compassion, who desperately struggles to deal with what it means to be a “good mom.” Spiro writes: “Brynn Nelson seemed to be nursing the worst hangover of her life. The kind involving six dirty vodka martinis, a pack of Parliament Lights, smudged eyeliner, a tank top strap slipping down a shoulder, dim lights at a crowded bar … Brynn only felt hung over because she was a first-time mother to a 3-month-old who refused to sleep. She was exhausted, and this was now how she felt all the time. A hangover seemed like a luxury in comparison to the way she felt now … The truth was, all she really heard when Lucas screamed was the disappearance of herself and the suffocating feeling that she was forever lost.”
Completely overwhelmed by motherhood, Brynn is fighting what seems to be severe, oppressive postpartum depression. Spiro’s writing compels us to feel Bryn’s raw emotions. She says of Brynn, who is waiting at Lucas’ pediatrician’s appointment, filling out the required Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale questionnaire: “As always, Brynn selected all the answers that she knew would deflect attention away from herself … She wondered if the creators of the test could ever understand Brynn’s fear of anyone — especially Lucas’ pediatrician — knowing the dark truth that sometimes she wished she’d never had Lucas at all. That since he was born, she’d been drowning in her own sadness and anxiety. That she desperately missed the days when she wasn’t a mother. And that she felt suffocated by the permanence of becoming one.”
As if a challenging birth and early motherhood were not enough, the murder compiles Brynn’s struggles when her husband, Ross, is accused of the crime. Although their marriage has been strained since Lucas’ birth, Brynn wants to believe in Ross’ innocence. When arrested, he begs Brynn to find the evidence that will set him free, telling her only to find the enigmatic clue of the “orange sun,” which remains a mystery until the very end.
Shaken to the core and struggling to solve the mystery herself, Brynn must navigate the complicated and shifting relationships and allegiances among Ross’s close-knit family members — all of whom knew the victim. This leaves her, and us, to wonder if any of them are who they seem. Brynn’s tenacity, though, to fight for herself, Ross, and Lucas compels us to root for this “good mother.”
Like her other books, Spiro sets the scenes solidly in the Vineyard with such familiarity that it sometimes feels that the story is unfolding in our backyard. An Islander herself, she skillfully captures the Island’s complexity: “I think of the Vineyard as a microcosm of our country. We have the same socioeconomic, class, and immigration issues right now that are happening on a larger scale.”
But Spiro, who says, “I’m a big believer in writing what you know,” isn’t just referring to the external world. “I wrote the novel in large part during the first year of my son’s life, when I had postpartum depression. I’m glad I did. It was cathartic, but I also don’t think I would remember what everything felt like if I had to write about it now. Still, there is something more significant. Postpartum depression and postpartum mental illness don’t get the attention they deserve in our culture and the medical community. I wanted to write about it in the hopes that women who have gone through postpartum depression, or are experiencing it, might find some comfort and feel less alone.”
The beauty of “Such a Good Mother” is that there is something for everyone. It’s a multifaceted look at family and motherhood … and a darn good murder mystery set on Martha’s Vineyard. Spiro shares what she hopes any reader will take away from it: “Perfection doesn’t exist — in motherhood and life. Even on the Vineyard.”
“Such a Good Mom” by Julia Spiro. Copies will be available before release at Spiro’s book signing on Saturday, April 26, from 2 to 4 pm at Edgartown Books. Available at Bunch of Grapes after publication on April 29.
