The Night Child

October 15, 2017

When an eerie apparition of a little girl appears to Nora Brown, her quiet life veers severely off course. The Seattle high school teacher is compelled to take a leave of absence when her composure cracks in the face of trauma. With little empathy from her husband, Nora's only joy is her daughter Fiona, whom she suddenly knows she must fiercely protect. As Nora begins work with a psychiatrist she is slow to trust, dark secrets about her traumatic childhood emerge that threaten to push her to a complete breakdown. Nora's dysfunctional past is clear to readers early on. Whether she will be able to protect Fiona and herself is the larger question. Quinn's first novel sensitively explores a deteriorating mental-health condition. VERDICT Haunting psychological suspense for readers who enjoy a generous dose of creepiness without being completely scared out of their wits. Fans of John Searles will be pleased.--Gloria Drake, Oswego P.L. Dist., IL

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 26, 2018
Nora, the troubled protagonist of Quinn’s debut novel, poses several unusual problems for narrator Campbell, not the least of which is finding voices for a character with two personalities. Nora, married with a six-year-old daughter, is teaching high school in Seattle at the close of the 20th century when long-suppressed memories of childhood trauma begin to return. They’re preceded by the image of a girl’s luminous face floating before her. It belongs to Margaret, a dissociative identity of Nora’s, and it takes her back to her horrific childhood with a brutal, alcoholic mother and a father who was even worse. These memory trips lead to a breakdown and hospitalization. Actress Campbell introduces Nora with a self-confident voice, though one almost too soft for a teacher. Later, in the hospital, her normal speech gives way to a druggy dreaminess mixed with the childish natter of her Margaret personality. Her visitors include a dry, unemotional husband who informs her he’s leaving for another woman; a slightly officious nurse; the kind, gentle-spoken principal of her school; and her concerned but oddly confrontational psychiatrist. Together Quinn and Campbell present a vivid depiction of the soul-numbing ordeal of mental illness. A Blackstone hardcover.

November 1, 2017
Nora Brown is living an ordinary life as a teacher, wife, and mom in Seattle when suddenly everything changes. A girl's face mysteriously appears, floating above Nora's desk as students are dismissed, shaking Nora to her core. When the girl appears again the next day whispering remember the Valentine's dress, Nora is once again perplexed. She is unable to connect this apparition to herself, thinking only of her six-year-old daughter. Nora must instead look inward at a past she has tried to forget, with an abusive, alcoholic mother and a father who abandoned her. Visits to a psychiatrist begin to unravel this troubled childhood and eventually uncover the dark secrets Nora has buried deep inside her subconscious. The Night Child is an exhilarating debut: Quinn immediately pulls the reader in and doesn't let go until the final scene. She commands each page and expertly dives into the inner working of a broken mind. This fast-paced, riveting novel of coping with the past while trying to salvage life in the present is hard to put down.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)