Dawn Langley's Reviews > Eleanora in Pieces

Jessica Maffetore’s debut novel, Eleanora, is a painstakingly wrought story of a mother unable to accept the disappearance of her toddler son. Eleanora, the title character, moves through her days as if slogging through mud, often succumbing to her depression by staying in bed and refusing social interactions, eventually pushing everyone away, including her husband. The moment-by-moment descriptions of Eleanora’s world are well-written and insightful, rich and painful, real and heartbreaking. Maffetore’s writing lifts the story and inserts the reader into Eleanora’s world, creating a character who is both likable and fractured, both by her child’s disappearance as well as the struggle to maintain an unexpected pregnancy after her husband announces his affair with another woman. We both root for Eleanora and sympathize with the daily pain of losing a child and having your world fall apart afterward. Nothing in the world can be worse than what Eleanora endures, but she keeps on going “because Owen may come home” at any time. Bravo to Maffetore for writing a stunning and intricately shaped novel about how we handle loss and yet keep on living.