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Sleep
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Expected 13 May 25From a dazzling new talent, the story of a newly divorced young mother forced to reckon with the secrets of her own childhood when she brings her daughters back to the big house where she was raised.
Every parent exists inside of two families simultaneously � the one she was born into, and the one she has made.
Ten-year-old Margaret hides beneath a blackberry bush in her family’s verdant backyard while her brother hunts for her in a game of flashlight tag. Hers is a childhood of sunlit swimming pools and Saturday morning pancakes and a devoted best friend, but her family life requires careful maintenance. Her mother can be as brittle and exacting as she is loving, and her father and brother assume familiar, if uncomfortable, models of masculinity. Then late one summer, everything changes. After a series of confusing transgressions, the simple pleasures of girlhood, slip away.
Twenty-five years later, Margaret hides under her parents� bed, waiting for her young daughters to find her in a game of hide and seek. She’s newly divorced and navigating her life as a co-parent, while discovering the pleasures of a new lover. But some part of her is still under the blackberry bush, punched out of time. Called upon to be a mother to her daughters, and a daughter to her mother, she must reckon with the echoes and refractions between the past and the present, what it means to keep a child safe, and how much of our lives are our own, alone.
Warm and generous, unflinchingly human, and ultimately joyful and empowering, SLEEP is about the cycles of motherhood and childhood, the cost of secrets and the burden of love, and what’s on the other side of the world, rich in possibility.
Every parent exists inside of two families simultaneously � the one she was born into, and the one she has made.
Ten-year-old Margaret hides beneath a blackberry bush in her family’s verdant backyard while her brother hunts for her in a game of flashlight tag. Hers is a childhood of sunlit swimming pools and Saturday morning pancakes and a devoted best friend, but her family life requires careful maintenance. Her mother can be as brittle and exacting as she is loving, and her father and brother assume familiar, if uncomfortable, models of masculinity. Then late one summer, everything changes. After a series of confusing transgressions, the simple pleasures of girlhood, slip away.
Twenty-five years later, Margaret hides under her parents� bed, waiting for her young daughters to find her in a game of hide and seek. She’s newly divorced and navigating her life as a co-parent, while discovering the pleasures of a new lover. But some part of her is still under the blackberry bush, punched out of time. Called upon to be a mother to her daughters, and a daughter to her mother, she must reckon with the echoes and refractions between the past and the present, what it means to keep a child safe, and how much of our lives are our own, alone.
Warm and generous, unflinchingly human, and ultimately joyful and empowering, SLEEP is about the cycles of motherhood and childhood, the cost of secrets and the burden of love, and what’s on the other side of the world, rich in possibility.
272 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 13, 2025
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13.1k people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 16, 2025
This book slowly wormed its way into me. The early scenes are loose, pearls on a string, but after that the book becomes much more focused. But those early scenes are important to start us out with childhood memory, something that almost feels like another world. That is when Margaret was hurt, and that hurt still defines her as we follow her decades later.
The descriptions of these books like to use words like "secrets" and "transgressions" but this bothers me. Let us be frank. This is a book about how Margaret was molested as a child, and how her mother chose to ignore it. It is not a book that is graphic or exploitative, and while these are heavy topics the book didn't make me feel weighed down. In some ways, Margaret's problems with her family will be relatable to many people. Even though hers are quite specific, like many families hers has decided to act like nothing has happened and Margaret has mostly gone along with it.
Now, as an adult, newly divorced and with a daughter coming close to the age she was at the time of her abuse, Margaret is seeing things a little differently. This is also a book about reexamination, the experience of midlife, seeing it all through a new lens.
It is not a book I feel like I should have to sell someone on because it is hard to sell. That is why the marketing department chooses words like "secrets" and "transgressions." But I found this book immensely readable, very poignant, and it's not trying to tell you that you should forgive the parents who treated you badly. It lets all these characters exist in their complexity, as recognizable people in recognizable situations. It lets old wounds echo and reopen.
The descriptions of these books like to use words like "secrets" and "transgressions" but this bothers me. Let us be frank. This is a book about how Margaret was molested as a child, and how her mother chose to ignore it. It is not a book that is graphic or exploitative, and while these are heavy topics the book didn't make me feel weighed down. In some ways, Margaret's problems with her family will be relatable to many people. Even though hers are quite specific, like many families hers has decided to act like nothing has happened and Margaret has mostly gone along with it.
Now, as an adult, newly divorced and with a daughter coming close to the age she was at the time of her abuse, Margaret is seeing things a little differently. This is also a book about reexamination, the experience of midlife, seeing it all through a new lens.
It is not a book I feel like I should have to sell someone on because it is hard to sell. That is why the marketing department chooses words like "secrets" and "transgressions." But I found this book immensely readable, very poignant, and it's not trying to tell you that you should forgive the parents who treated you badly. It lets all these characters exist in their complexity, as recognizable people in recognizable situations. It lets old wounds echo and reopen.
November 2, 2024
Sleep is a character driven book which centers on a dysfunctional family through flashbacks. Margaret has past traumas that she hasn’t dealt with or acknowledged to the family. Whenever Margaret got close to revealing the truth, her mother, Elizabeth makes it very clear that she doesn’t want to hear about the trauma much less discuss it. Margaret tries very hard to be the mother to her two girls that Elizabeth wasn’t. The characters are fully developed and consistent. The lack of communication was maddening to me. Watching Margaret consistently make bad relationship decisions, with the exception of her best friend, was frustrating. Clearly the author did a great job describing these characters for me to react so strongly to the protagonist.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Riverhead for this advanced readers copy,
Many thanks to NetGalley and Riverhead for this advanced readers copy,
January 27, 2025
I think dysfunctional American families are one of my favourite storylines. Very readable book.
September 18, 2024
Liked this a lot, and I'm extremely picky about tales of Brooklyn motherhood. It's beautifully written and not at all overwrought, and the elder mother-daughter relationship was so finely depicted - a difficult and fraught relationship that doesn't preclude a kind of love. Often I dislike characters who are too similar to me, but I'd really like to hang out with Margaret and envy her best friendship with Biddy.
March 25, 2025
Really loved reading this book-I did not have any idea how dark this secret was within the family and how no one could speak up about it because it is such a taboo subject. This could be a trigger for some. Highly recommend.
November 7, 2024
Margaret, still troubled by a childhood trauma comes to terms with her new life. She’s recently divorced from Ezra and trying to be a better mother than her own, but we see they’re more alike than she realizes. She’s got a spicy and fulfilling new relationship with Duncan, also a single father. Margaret is a strongly developed character and her dynamic with her mother is especially poignant. Her writing had a nice flow with some original metaphors and good imagery. Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Riverhead for giving me the opportunity to read this advanced copy.
March 17, 2025
Sleep is a moving debut about motherhood, identity, and the reclaiming of oneself after trauma. Margaret’s childhood looked idyllic from the outside as she and her brother were raised in a two-parent household in suburban New Jersey. But danger is always lurking in her periphery as she is continually assaulted by a family member (check the trigger warnings for this one), and Margaret's mother, Elizabeth, constantly teetering on the edge of a breakdown, is ready to blame her daughter for anything that goes wrong. Even (often) when Margaret has nothing to do with it—subliminally teaching Margaret that she MUST be inherently bad because her own Mother is so ready to believe that she is.
Flash forward a couple of decades, and Margaret is struggling to keep her head above water—a constant theme that is so beautifully illustrated on the book’s cover. She’s the mother of two young daughters in a cramped Brooklyn apartment, politely co-parenting with her ex-husband, Ezra. Margaret is constantly dealing with and answering to others, but her relationship with herself was what interested me. She’s full of contradictions—standing up for herself when it feels beside the point while backing down when it matters—and is understandably guarded after being taught to suppress herself for so many years (first by her mother, then (though to a lesser or at least less obvious way) by her husband) that it’s a wonder she doesn’t just spontaneously combust.
While the novel deals with such an intense subject matter, it punctuates the tension with poignant and often funny observations that keep the plot moving. I can’t say I fully connected with Margaret as a character—at first, I thought it was because I’m not a mother, but I don’t think that was it—but what I did connect with (& think lots of women, maybe especially mothers of daughters, will) was her constant anxiety, pain, and anger which were gorgeously rendered on every page.
February 12, 2025
I'm not sure if this was the right book for me at the right time. The character's story was well told and it's clear that the author has a way with words. The main character was very well worked out, but something just didn't hit. It certainly wasn't a bad book, my style of reading didn't jive well with this style of writing. For other readers, I hope that won't be the case because I know it is a book that many readers will enjoy.
One of the things I struggled with was how disconnected it felt at times. One moment the story would be focusing on what was happening in the now and suddenly the character's thought or action would be thrown to something else, and not always in a reflective or nostalgic way. Disjointed. But that could also be considered the point of some of the story.
The main character, Margaret, could certainly be called an overthinker, but I think that's a common trait for a lot of moms. It's clear that she's trying to raise her children in a way that is different from her own experience. This becomes quite the challenge when she is faced with overcoming her own traumas and trying to keep them from manifesting in ways that affect her kids. I found myself incredibly frustrated by some parts of the story, I wanted more resolution in some aspects. But on the other hand, I think it's true to life that sometimes we just don't get that. Again, maybe that's the point.
Overall, a good book, just not what I expected.
My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
One of the things I struggled with was how disconnected it felt at times. One moment the story would be focusing on what was happening in the now and suddenly the character's thought or action would be thrown to something else, and not always in a reflective or nostalgic way. Disjointed. But that could also be considered the point of some of the story.
The main character, Margaret, could certainly be called an overthinker, but I think that's a common trait for a lot of moms. It's clear that she's trying to raise her children in a way that is different from her own experience. This becomes quite the challenge when she is faced with overcoming her own traumas and trying to keep them from manifesting in ways that affect her kids. I found myself incredibly frustrated by some parts of the story, I wanted more resolution in some aspects. But on the other hand, I think it's true to life that sometimes we just don't get that. Again, maybe that's the point.
Overall, a good book, just not what I expected.
My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
February 6, 2025
4.5
Very beautifully written, such precise language and sentences. I did wish the childhood section had gone on longer although I understand that the book doesn't really NEED it � but her ability to get inside the mindset of a child and render it into language was so impressive to me.
There are a lot of books about people reckoning with CSA, because it's sadly very common; I think Jones is careful and thoughtful with this subject and does an especially good job showing how her protagonist's endless paranoia resulting from her experience has affected her parenting. Her writing of the parents, especially the mother, are also very sharp and astute: who can't recognize a figure like the mother here, who simply can't acknowledge reality and who has therefore left her daughter alone to suffer? But as familiar and archetypal as this character is, this mother is also nasty in specific ways, while the dad is, of course, mentally elsewhere.
I was not so interested in the current-day relationships with men or the sex in the book � so many books with women discovering they love being dominated in bed like no one has ever had this thought before; it would be nice to read something a little more complex � but otherwise, a very impressive debut. I'll be looking forward to her next novel.
Very beautifully written, such precise language and sentences. I did wish the childhood section had gone on longer although I understand that the book doesn't really NEED it � but her ability to get inside the mindset of a child and render it into language was so impressive to me.
There are a lot of books about people reckoning with CSA, because it's sadly very common; I think Jones is careful and thoughtful with this subject and does an especially good job showing how her protagonist's endless paranoia resulting from her experience has affected her parenting. Her writing of the parents, especially the mother, are also very sharp and astute: who can't recognize a figure like the mother here, who simply can't acknowledge reality and who has therefore left her daughter alone to suffer? But as familiar and archetypal as this character is, this mother is also nasty in specific ways, while the dad is, of course, mentally elsewhere.
I was not so interested in the current-day relationships with men or the sex in the book � so many books with women discovering they love being dominated in bed like no one has ever had this thought before; it would be nice to read something a little more complex � but otherwise, a very impressive debut. I'll be looking forward to her next novel.
March 29, 2025
Margaret is 10 years old. She has a best friend named Biddy, spends her summer days playing with her friends and her brother, while hiding secrets that threaten to tear the family apart. Her father has had an affair, causing her mother to spiral at times, but another secret is one that she must keep to herself in the hopes of simply surviving her childhood.
Now 35, with two daughters, she returns with them to her childhood home. Her marriage has ended, and she is seeing someone new. She must begin to reckon with what happened years ago, let go of the past, and move forward as a woman and a mother.
Love and secrets are burdens that can weigh us down, and when those secrets come from trauma, the weight can seem insurmountable. This dysfunctional family story is intense, dark, and unsettling, but well worth it. The character development is masterful, as the complexities many women face today are put on center stage. A story like this could quickly feel overdramatic or exaggerated, but Honor Jones writes this in a way that feels very true to life, complicated without feeling overblown.
Now 35, with two daughters, she returns with them to her childhood home. Her marriage has ended, and she is seeing someone new. She must begin to reckon with what happened years ago, let go of the past, and move forward as a woman and a mother.
Love and secrets are burdens that can weigh us down, and when those secrets come from trauma, the weight can seem insurmountable. This dysfunctional family story is intense, dark, and unsettling, but well worth it. The character development is masterful, as the complexities many women face today are put on center stage. A story like this could quickly feel overdramatic or exaggerated, but Honor Jones writes this in a way that feels very true to life, complicated without feeling overblown.
December 28, 2024
"Sleep" by Honor Jones is a novel about family. It depicts what it means to be a daughter and a mother, including the love, transgressions, and disappointments that can happen in our closest relationships. Margaret is a mother to two young daughters. Recently divorced, she is balancing single motherhood, her relationship with her ex-husband, and the call of a new lover. Margaret is also a daughter who had a fraught relationship with her own mother. Her relationship with her daughters is colored by the pain and trauma that Margaret experienced growing up. This book is honest and unflinching in portraying the realities and vulnerability of both childhood and parenthood. Facing her past is empowering, and in the end this book celebrates Margaret’s capacity for love and acceptance. Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.
January 21, 2025
*3.5 stars*
This is an emotional take on one individual's trauma surrounding consent, motherhood, and familial relationships. These characters and their interactions with each other felt genuine, which made many scenes in the novel that much more intense. I was invested. Like our main character, Margaret, I worried for her children whenever they disappeared from the page. It was upsetting to see how many times she should have said something to another character and never did, but it makes this story realistic. I wanted confrontation and restorative justice, and I can't say that that is what I got. However, by the end, Margaret is own her own restorative path, which seems fitting for who she is as a character.
This is an emotional take on one individual's trauma surrounding consent, motherhood, and familial relationships. These characters and their interactions with each other felt genuine, which made many scenes in the novel that much more intense. I was invested. Like our main character, Margaret, I worried for her children whenever they disappeared from the page. It was upsetting to see how many times she should have said something to another character and never did, but it makes this story realistic. I wanted confrontation and restorative justice, and I can't say that that is what I got. However, by the end, Margaret is own her own restorative path, which seems fitting for who she is as a character.
January 13, 2025
I really enjoyed the characters in this story: relatable Margaret, exasperating Elizabeth, lovable Danny, safe Duncan, and Biddy...I desperately want her to be my best friend too. This was a well-told piece of fiction that I will be thinking about for a while.
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the ARC!
Thank you to NetGalley and Riverhead Books for the ARC!
February 21, 2025
Though the plot was a bit sparse, I still really enjoyed this novel, mostly due to the great characterization and insight into motherhood. I thought the author had a very unique voice that really set this book apart from other stories about motherhood. It reminded me a bit of Madwoman, but more literary in style. It was also very easy to read and compelling in its own way.
March 29, 2025
Thanks to Riverhead Books for the ARC. This was a solid read for me. I found Margaret’s struggles to deal with certain childhood memories very believable, although I likely would have acted differently. The author shows the reader how Margaret’s role as a mother of young children influenced her decisions on how to deal with or reconcile those events in her past. A very satisfying story.
Want to read
April 3, 2025
Want to read
December 20, 2024Eager to meet Margaret and dive into this complex tale.
March 9, 2025
3.5 rounded up
March 12, 2025
How I loved this!! Review to come, thank you to Riverhead Books for the advanced copy!
March 22, 2025
This was an intense little read, there was a cloud of foreboding over everything which propelled me into the story but also left me with an uneasy feeling every time I put the book down.
It explores complex mother daughter relationships really well and how childhood trauma can rear its head when you yourself have kids.
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC via Netgalley
It explores complex mother daughter relationships really well and how childhood trauma can rear its head when you yourself have kids.
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC via Netgalley
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