Kirkus Style Review

 

Kirkus - Style Review – “My Darling Girl” by Jennifer McMahon

Allison O'Conner is living an idyllic life in small town Vermont until her carefully cultivated and well-ordered existence is undermined by the arrival of her ailing mother.

Christmas festivities are afoot in the O’Conner household when Allison receives an unexpected phone call from her mother’s dutiful assistant, Paul. She learns that her estranged mother, Mavis, has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. On a quick visit to the New York hospital where Mavis is convalescing, Allison’s mother humbly expresses her desire to live out her last days with her only daughter. Allison is hesitant to entertain her mother’s wishes, as she fears her presence might reignite the terrible feelings of trauma she experienced as a child. Allison is a likeable and relatable protagonist, and readers will sympathize with her as she wrestles with excruciating childhood memories while painstakingly endeavoring to create a happy childhood for her two daughters, 6-year-old Olivia and teenage Izzy. Allison agrees to take her mother in but maintains a guarded optimism. McMahon paints a claustrophobic and menacing picture in her vividly dark descriptions of the supernatural events that begin to occur regularly in the home upon Mavis’ arrival; from the appearance of unseasonal swaths of invading flies, “the flies readjusted, crawling over each other, the fingers on the hand stretching out” to the appearance of a grotesque rat in her daughter’s room, “Its fur was dark gray, nearly black, and shiny as an oil slick. It moved like oil too—viscous and flowing…” Allison suspects the demonic, but neither her husband, Mark, nor her best friend, Penny, believes her. Mark’s reluctance to support Allison, and instead suggesting a brief stint in a mental asylum, will frustrate some readers, especially as it flies in the face of his often-saccharine overtures of affection toward her (Mark has a PhD in Literature and quotes Emily Dickinson in his wedding vows). Things go from bad to worse as Allison is forced to live out a nightmare in isolation and singlehandedly battle against a grave evil.

While readers might wonder why Allison never thinks to employ the assistance of a priest (which would be the obvious course of action in many readers’ minds), and despite the sometimes-frustrating secondary characters, McMahon has nonetheless created a dark and claustrophobic page-turner that will maintain readers engagement up until the untidy and very uneasy conclusion.