Mothers and Other Strangers

March 27, 2017
Sorell’s debut novel explores a fractured mother-daughter relationship as the daughter seeks answers following her mother’s death. Elsie, a dancer, was estranged from her mother, Rachel, for years. She returns to Toronto from Los Angeles following Rachel’s death. Rachel had told Elsie that her real father died when they were living in South Africa and that she married his brother, Howard, who never knew that he didn’t father Elsie. As Elsie seeks to piece together the puzzle that was her mother’s life, she reflects on how she admired her mother’s uniqueness but despised her for devoting all her energy to her religious organization, the Seekers, and their founder, Philippe. Elsie recalls immersing herself in dance and becoming a prominent member of a touring dance company, always hoping for her mother’s approval but never seeming to obtain it. Elsie flies to Paris, determined to uncover the secrets of the Seekers and her mother. Mesmerizing and quietly revealing, Sorell’s memorable novel expertly weaves Elsie’s search for answers about her origins with her own journey of healing.

March 1, 2017
In her debut novel, Sorell explores the complex fallout of a troubled mother-daughter relationship.Elsie has long struggled with her emotionally distant mother, Rachel, a secretive and vain woman who often seemed to see her own daughter as competition. But when Rachel dies and Elsie begins sifting through the apartment she left behind, the 39-year-old is confronted by how much she didn't know about her mother. From their early days in South Africa to Rachel's relationship with a New Age cult in Paris, Elsie works to put together the pieces and gain a sense of who her mother was even as she continues to deal with the fallout her mother's lack of care took on her. Sorell slowly reveals the extent to which the independent-minded Elsie has been shaped by her mother, complicating the book's initial straightforward narrative. Although the pacing accelerates rapidly near the end and the book's mystery struggles to deliver a rewarding payoff, most of the novel is a fascinating look at a unique and fractured parent-child relationship. An engaging and tense (though uneven) exploration of the scars our childhoods can leave behind.

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April 15, 2017
Sorell's debut novel may at first appear to be literary suspense, but it's much more the tale of a fractured mother-daughter relationship and its fallout. Elsie's mother, Rachel, has succumbed to cancer Elsie was unaware of. Elsie inherits her mother's apartment, which she soon finds has been ransacked. In trying to find out why she was targeted, Elsie discovers further secrets that force her to revisit her dysfunctional childhood in an attempt to find out the truth about her own past and her mother's. Rachel belonged to a shady, cultlike spiritual group for years and was never much of a mother, putting her own needs and those of the Seekers before Elsie, who has never recovered. More than half of the book is told through flashbacks, which dilutes the suspense of Elsie's current-day search, while tales of Elsie's historyher dancing career, depression, and ex-husbandfall flat. The relationship between Elsie and Rachel is the real gem here, though it takes some digging to get there.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)