Bloodfire, Baby by Eirinie Carson

TL;DR: This was not a hit for me sadly but it definitely could work for others.
Source: NetGalley, thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: Sofia slowly descends into post partum psychosis, haunted by the ghosts of her ancestors.
Characters: Sofia is our only real character of note and she is a mess throughout this whole story.
Setting: The setting here was executed masterfully, really making the confinement and trapped feeling strong.
Horror: So many people are going to find this terrifying – I found it deeply triggering, so to each their own.

Description:

Before the shadow appeared, Sofia thought mothering would be all sun-drenched light and white linen sheets, as seen advertised by the momfluencers of Instagram. In her gorgeous home anchored in a posh suburb, far removed from her origins, Sofia revels in her success.

Motherhood seems like the natural next step, but when her husband travels for a work trip, leaving Sofia all alone with their unnamed three-week-old baby, she can’t quite square how mothering falls solely in her lap. Nobody seems able or willing to help her: not her husband, not her best friend, and certainly not the zealot mother she cut off long ago.

Her postpartum reality is overtaken by an ominous figure. Sleep-deprivation collides with a darkness that creeps in and begins to spread, threatening to consume her entirely. As her grip on reality slips away, Sofia learns of an insidious haunting that has plagued the eldest daughters in her family for generations. With her baby’s safety on the line, Sofia realizes she must confront her murky history or risk losing more than just the veneer of perfection.

Thoughts:

Post Partum Depression and Psychosis are terrifying. I don’t think most people truly understand how deeply those things can and do affect people. I have first hand experience and I’ve seen it in other mothers around me, often times we simply struggle through. Bloodfire, Baby puts you right in the mind of Sofia who is sliding down the slope of PPD into PPP and it’s horrible.

For me this was too real, and familiar. Sofia is haunted by the ghosts of her ancestors, her mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers, while she struggles alone in a big empty house in a white neighborhood. She never fully comes to terms or accepts what’s happening, instead falling further to inevitable bloodshed. You’re left wondering how much (I think all) of what she saw and experienced was real or how much was a haunting.

If you can handle the topic and circumstance, read this one. If you’re at all sensitive to those first few weeks of motherhood, PPD or PPP, skip this one. It’s a deeply disturbing, fast paced read that can definitely work for some.