Finalist for the Midland Authors Award
Booklist, A Top Ten First Novel of the Year
"A gorgeous novel about how intimately acquainted one becomes with fear and love after motherhood, and how to live with the two forces, which are terrifying in their own ways. The writing, exquisite and vivid, pulls you close and demonstrates how the vast wilderness of what we live through—capitalistic pressure, social rupture, ecological collapse—necessitates an equally fierce intimacy with the people we love.” —Jenny Xie, Vanity Fair
"[A] meditative climate-crisis thriller . . . It is not a spoiler to say that capitalism is running amuck, and through Ada’s disappearance, Lynch’s sharp eye takes us takes us into dark territories of metamorphosis that seem otherworldly but are, terrifyingly, here." —Robert Sullivan, Vogue
"An eerie and accomplished work of speculative fiction . . . With a composer’s precision, Lynch plays the intimate registers of everyday family life against the seductive music of the natural world . . . Placing motherhood at its centre, this remarkable book addresses the most profound—and terrifying—issues of our time with imagination, insight, and compassion." —Gillian MacKay, Literary Review of Canada
"In imagining what would happen if mothers went missing en masse, Forbidden Territory feels entirely fresh." —Irene Katz Connelly, Electric Literature
"Lynch’s magical debut constructs a dreamlike dystopia populated by women at odds with both Mother Nature and their own interior senses, wary of the easy ways society can erase them." —Booklist (starred review)
"[A] spectacular debut . . . Writing in tight, precise prose, Lynch weaves environmental disaster, feminist theory, and classical myth into a mesmerizing tale. Lovers of Margaret Atwood and Lauren Groff will be among the many enthralled." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A nuanced contemplation of marriage, motherhood, and the anxieties of modern life . . . Lynch writes evocatively and insightfully about the divine feminine, nature’s gravitational pull, and her characters’ struggles with alienation and fear. At once visceral and ephemeral." —Kirkus Reviews
"Bold and brilliant. The Forbidden Territory of a Terrifying Woman is a novel that takes on the uncertainty of our present moment. Molly Lynch’s voice is fearless as she gives us a story that is both a page-turner and radical new mythology for our time." —Claudia Dey, author of Heartbreaker
"How can women bear America? The only answer, I think, is for them all to leave. This wise, complex and fascinating novel touches on that possibility." —Lucy Ellmann, author of Ducks, Newburyport
"Molly Lynch's hypnotic debut, in its intensity and wry wisdom, evokes the early feminist novels of Margaret Atwood. Lynch is the kind of writer who can, with the turn of a phrase, set the ordinary thrumming with almost unbearable tension. She reminds us that in our current age, all of our placid hours, our every affection—most especially for our children—can be upended by dread. A writer to watch, and to celebrate." —Alice McDermott, author of The Ninth Hour
"The ontological strangeness of planetary transition comes home in this meticulous and disturbing novel of suburban eco-horror. Molly Lynch's The Forbidden Territory of a Terrifying Woman captures in exquisite detail the everyday monstrosity of climate change, the uncanny way our collective predicament possesses us, at once cause and effect, inside and outside, nature and self. Intimate, unmooring, brilliantly rendered, and deeply spooky, this novel will haunt you long after you put it down." —Roy Scranton, author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene
2023-03-14
Mothers the world over start vanishing without a trace.
Creative writing professor Ada Berger, 39, lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with her husband, history professor Danny, and the couple’s 6-year-old son, Gilles. Canadian-born Ada has never felt at home in the U.S., where “the general order is pure chaos,” and ever since she had Gilles, she's been unable to envision the future, which makes it hard “to be here, on the earth, in any form.” Not only is Ada surrounded by stories about social and ecological collapse—on NPR, in conversations with her friends—but two local mothers have recently disappeared from their houses in broad daylight, with no sign of foul play. Though Ada can’t put the missing women out of her head, Danny doesn’t take much notice—until he and Gilles wake up one morning to find Ada gone. The doors are all locked, and Ada’s phone, keys, and wallet are still in the kitchen. Danny calls the police, who arrive with a federal agent in tow; it seems the mysterious disappearances aren’t confined to the Rust Belt—or even the United States. Using a candid close-third-person narration that shifts between Ada and Danny, debut author Lynch offers a nuanced contemplation of marriage, motherhood, and the anxieties of modern life. While efforts to explain the missing-mother phenomenon feel convoluted and undercut the tale’s otherworldly appeal, Lynch writes evocatively and insightfully about the divine feminine, nature’s gravitational pull, and her characters’ struggles with alienation and fear.
At once visceral and ephemeral but lacking in catharsis.
