November 1, 2024
Though as an adult Layla is familiar with her mother Nora's mercurial moods, she still isn't immune to their influence. Prone to dramatic pronouncements, guilt trips, and threats of self-harm, Nora tends to steamroll all logic and reasoning from a conversation. Living hundreds of miles apart doesn't help either. The remote island of Tasmania seems to amplify signals of Nora's unsettled emotional state. Layla lives with the constant worry that the one time she doesn't drop everything to visit her mother, the consequences will be too much to bear. Leaving behind her confused children, frustrated husband, and less-than-sympathetic sister, Layla brings her elderly aunt Dawn on a last-minute trip to ensure Nora hasn't followed through on her most recent threats. Weighing familial guilt against an intense need for independence, childhood wounds against adult scar tissue, and stability against freedom, Rogers' debut is a journey of self-exploration and healing. Readers who tore through Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects (2006) or Nicole Baart's Little Broken Things (2017) will find resonance in The Heart Is a Star.
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