cover image The Unprotected

The Unprotected

Kelly Sokol. Skyhorse (Perseus, dist.), $24.99 (296p) ISBN 978-1-5107-1832-6

A woman still haunted by her father’s death grapples with postpartum depression in Sokol’s engrossing debut. Lara James has it all: a handsome husband, a high-powered job in advertising, and a beautiful home in Richmond, Va. Lara and Will are happy with their charmed, and childless, life, so no one is more surprised than Lara when she begins yearning for a baby. Will is thrilled, and she gets pregnant quickly, only to suffer a miscarriage. Endless rounds of hormone shots and IVF sessions takes a toll on Lara’s body and her marriage, but after four years, she gets pregnant, and baby Auden is born. Lara quits her job to stay at home, but Auden is colicky, and her constant crying chafes at Lara’s already raw nerves, while tenuous help from Will makes it worse, and Lara begins to spiral. Motherhood is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, and Sokol’s streamlined prose takes an unflinching look at an illness that is still treated as taboo. (Apr.)