HOLD STILL by Lynn Steger Strong

Lynn Steger Strong's Hold Still revolves around a struggling mother-daughter duo as they navigate their lives before and after a horrible tragedy. In the "Before," daughter Ellie watches her life spiral downward as she gets caught up in a whirlwind of drugs and parties. Knowing something needs to change, her mother, Maya, a brilliant but often reclusive English professor, sends her to Florida to help care for the son of a former student. At first, Ellie feels she's finally found somewhere she is capable and in control, but she soon falls back into her old ways, which has unthinkable consequences. In the "After," Maya struggles to come to terms with her part in the accident, pulling away from her family and becoming entangled in the lives of her students. As the two narratives come together, we see the truth of what happened to shatter these women's lives, and also get a glimpse of hope for redemption. I was more partial to Ellie's chapters, finding her to be a more compelling (and oddly more sympathetic) character. She makes hurtful mistakes, yes, but one gets the sense that her lack of control runs deeper than a mere willful refusal to get better — the author does a masterful job at getting into her head. I would have liked to see more from Ellie, actually, to get a better sense of her mental state and what drove her to be so troubled. Maya's chapters didn't grab me as much, but her perspective as a mother lends a depth to the family that would be absent with only Ellie's narrative. Overall, Hold Still is a beautifully written exploration of of the complex, tumultuous relationship between mother and daughter, and how the bonds of family have shaped these two characters for better or worse.