The writing style of Little Bandaged Days intrigued me and reminded me of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar; Wilder draws attention to a depressed, female protagonist and writes with short, blunt sentences all the time which emphasise the simplicity and mundanity of her life. It quickly becomes apparent Erika cares little for anything and is deeply unhappy.

The book is character-focused rather than plot-focused. This is an important point to bear in mind before reading. If you aren’t interested in exploring the mind of one person over time, watching them struggle more and more, and seeing them descend into “insanity”, this will not be the book for you. In terms of plot, nothing much happens. Every day is the same – that’s the point. I think this writing style excellently captures the reality of experiencing deep depression or anxiety.

However, whilst I found these things interesting, Wilder’s choice of writing style and decision to focus on character rather than plot can risk being perceived as boring by others. To use only short and simple sentences makes the book feel… well, short and simple and, arguably, lacking in complexity. In addition, as already mentioned, not much happens, meaning a lot of readers may find it difficult to keep reading and simply give up. I’ll admit, I struggled to persevere at points – I felt confused, desperate for clarity, and eager for a resolution.

On the one hand, these could be reasons to snub Little Bandaged Days as “poorly written” or “boring”.

On the other hand, the confusion and lack of clarity I felt whilst reading Erika’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences mirrors the Erika herself, and this led me to genuinely sympathise with her.

I don’t think Little Bandaged Days is a book for everyone. However, if you are interested in character-focused books or books that deal with mental health, I would suggest you give this a go.

Not quite sure how to comment on this book! Wasn’t for me although I persevered to the end! A mother’s descent into madness! Found it too unbelievable that her husband didn’t seem to notice or care! She is basically left alone with no language or company with small children! Kept waiting on the pace changing! Left me feeling flat!

Little Bandaged Days is the story of a young mother who has moved to Geneva for her husband's high-flying job. While he is working increasingly long hours at the office, or schmoozing clients over steak and champagne, his wife is taking care of their two small children. At great pains to seem like the perfect mother, our narrator - who remains nameless for much of the novel - is the model housewife to begin with: suits are pressed, the children are clean and well-dressed, and dinner is on the table every night. But as her sense of loneliness increases and her grasp on reality seems ever more tenuous, the reader begins to worry: just what is this over taxed young mother really capable of?

It's difficult to believe this is a first novel: Kyra Wilder has created a beautifully wrought work of fiction with gorgeous imagery, and a genuine sense of foreboding. Certain tricks are used to great effect, for example, referring to the children and husband by only initials rather than their full names makes them slightly less real to us than the narrator is; it also made me feel like I was reading a redacted record at times, where the names had been removed for reasons of privacy, which made the world feel even more real, and sinister. The prose itself is beautiful, lending itself more to poetry at times, though never over-flowery.

I was gripped by this book from the start, and spent most of the book hoping that everything turned out well while also being darkly sure it wouldn't (I won't say anything else about that as I don't want to spoil the book for people who haven't read it). Stunning writing from a ridiculously talented new author - I can't wait to see what Kyra Wilder writes next, but consider me first in line for her next book.

Thank you to NetGalley, who provided me with a free ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

Creepy crawly less of of a thriller than a narrative of post party depression but still enjoyable in its way

A different sort of book, but easy to read. It took a bit of getting used to as the main character only named her family by their initials. It was fast paced, almost as though you could hear her breathlessly talking and trying to achieve things. It was harrowing in a way as you felt like a bystander, witnessing this woman’s isolation and decline. I felt there were a few unanswered questions - why were there conversations with her mother which suddenly ceased, what was really happening with her husband? All those questions may be in keeping with the narrative of the book, though.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pan Macmillan - Picador, for the ARC.
I'm afraid this really wasn't for me; from the description I thought it would be much more of a 'story', whereas the narrative conveys, in interminable detail, the almost 'depraved' decent into madness of a young mother.

Erika, with husband 'M' and 2 young children 'B' and 'E' move to Switzerland for 'M's job. He's missing more and more from their rented apartment, you never find out what he actually does and he seems to be oblivious to his wife's mental decline. Erika is at first enchanted by the move but not speaking French tends to leave her isolated. She wants to be the perfect wife and mother but as she dwells on this she begins to lose her identity and she neglects her children, barricades them for hours in the apartment under the pretext of games and feeds them bizarre combinations of snacks and drinks.

The narrative is split between Then and Now - where the reader has to assume that Erika is in an asylum, locked into her own thoughts.

Frankly, after skimming a lot of the book just to get to the ending, having reached it - I still have no idea what actually happened.

Little Bandaged Days is a profoundly intuitive, deep and compelling novel but I personally found it almost impossible to finish due to the emotions it brought to the fore. It was a very tense read and I feared for the children's safety and the mother's sanity whilst at the same time feeling so very frustrated by the father's apparent ignorance of the situation he had placed his wife and family in.

This was a very different book, and the idea behind it was good. However, I found it very difficult to get into, and almost painful in parts to read. The ending left many questions unanswered, and although I am sure that a lot of people will enjoy this rather challenging book, it wasn't really for me.

with her husband and two young children for her husband’s job. He is increasingly away from home more and more. She finds herself isolated in a country where she doesn’t even speak the language. We follow Erika‘s descent into madness.

This was an average book to me. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. I found it strange that Erika referred to her husband and children by initial only. This did irritate me at first but I got used to it. As a mum of two with a husband in the Navy there was a lot that I could relate to. This was a different read for me. I thought that the descent into madness was done quite subtly. I didn’t rate the ending but I could understand why it was done that way.

This is an unusual book and a very intense one. The story is of a young mother of two who moves with her successful husband to Geneva. While he pursues his career and goodness knows what else, she quietly goes mad in their flat. She doesn't speak French and her social interactions are minimal. People who she meets are more alive in her imagination than in reality. She makes little effort to change this and we can assume that she was already fragile before she arrived in this new world.

So far so good. But the book is hard to read partly because the subject matter of a descent into craziness is disturbing but largely because the narrative is fast and furious with hardly a pause for breath. We are inside her. Her children and her husband are named only with their initials which was irritating to read but I can understand that it served a function as an extra way to show her separation from reality. But the use of initials, along with the breathless writing style plus the strange parallel story which I couldn't make sense of and in the end gave up reading, made this an uncomfortable read.

However, there were many passages which were extremely well written and the descent into the hell of madness was powerful enough to keep me going until the end. I was intrigued, irritated, frustrated and fascinated in almost equal measure.

As an 'amateur' book reviewer, I love Netgalley and the fact that it makes me read books that I would not otherwise have picked up. 'Little Bandaged Days' is definitely one of those books. The first thing that struck me when I began the book was that the narrator refers to her husband and children using only initials - I felt it depersonalised them somewhat. The story begins with a 'normal' family of a mother, father and two children moving to Geneva with the husband's job.

Erika, increasingly alone with the children in a city where she knows no-one and speaks very little of the language, feels isolated and sleep-deprived and her descent into mental disorder begins. It is sometimes difficult to tell where the truth ends and her paranoid mind takes over.

This is a traumatic tale of a woman who loves so much it blinds her to so many truths, including her own.

Little Bandaged Days by Kyra Wilder was sent to me by Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This was a difficult book to read. It was well written and was a compulsive read, but the undertone of dread and the potential harm to the children made it a pretty heart wrenching read. I just marked it down a star as I didn’t completely understand the ending, and I wasn’t sure if it was just me not understanding it or it was meant to be left open to interpretation.

“I made my face ready to smile just in case she looked back at me but she didn’t, so I let my mouth sag because sometimes it just is what it is”
I really enjoyed Little Bandaged Days. Erika’s slow decline into madness is so beautifully narrated, everything hidden inside Wilder’s intense prose. What I found most interesting were the markers of Erika’s madness beginning to set in, the fort being left up when M returned home, the lipstick in the walls, the constant cleaning until her hands bled and ultimately the candles. The second narrative confused me a little, I assumed she had done something bad and ended up sectioned but the ending suggests otherwise.
Little Bandaged Days is such an honest and heartbreaking account of the struggles that come with mental illness. Erika clearly loves her family, she’s constantly striving to say the right thing to M and look a certain way and be a “good mother” and do good mother things but the resentment and loneliness that plagues her is too much.
Overall a great read, just would have liked a little more clarity with the second narrative. Thank you Netgalley and Picador Books

This is an extremely uncomfortable read. I hurtled through it at a chaotic pace, echoing the protagonist’s frantic attempts at comprehension, primarily because there was a sense of impending doom and I was so concerned for her little family, and I didn’t breathe until the last few pages. I remain confused by the second narrative. Has she been sectioned? Is she in prison? It didn’t seem to add anything to the story apart from perhaps as a comforter given she finally had help.

This is a remarkable book. Narrated by a woman who has moved to Geneva because of her husband's job, it portrays her isolation as she tries to settle into a country where she knows no-one and can't speak the language. She has two very young children, one just a baby and it doesn't help that her husband is rarely at home. Gradually we see her move from simple loneliness into what could be depression and ultimately psychosis. It is beautifully written in a sparse style; her family for example are referred to by their initials. Some of the descriptions are just wonderful. The lemons decaying and turning to dust will stick in my memory, as will the descriptions of Geneva in the heat. It's not an easy read but it is a worthwhile one. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I really struggled reading this book and found the use of initials for characters off putting at the start. To combat this I made up my own names for them with M becoming Michael, E becoming Ellie and B becoming Bailey until I was able to read it with just the initials. I skipped through the last 25% of the book as I just became bored with the whole thing and only carried on reading to find out what happened at the end. The idea around the book is a good one and important in today’s society, but the way the book was written let it down. Thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for my honest review.

Parts of this book are really well written and describe the narrators struggle with mental health in a way that can be understood. I thought that other parts were confusing. Is that her in hospital? How much of her life in the apartment is real? The confusion I think added to the story as I tried to work out what was happening with the main character.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I enjoyed parts of this book but others not so much. I hated the initial for the children and kind of put me off. Erica is not a very likeable person either. Well written though and a good story

I'm unsure how I feel about this book. I liked it yet I didn't. The writing style was easy to read, yet I was uncomfortable reading it.

Erika wasn't a character that I particularly liked and by keeping her children's identities secret by just using their initials made it hard for me to picture them.

Little Bandaged Days was not a book for me but I can see many characteristics that will make it popular.

The blurb:

What is a mother anyway when her children are asleep? What could she possibly be? If a tree falls in a forest. It’s like that, isn’t it?

A mother moves to Geneva with her husband and their two young children. In their beautiful new rented apartment, surrounded by their rented furniture, and several Swiss instructions to maintain quiet, she finds herself totally isolated. Her husband’s job means he is almost never present, and her entire world is caring for her children – making sure they are happy, and fed and comfortable, and that they can be seen as the happy, well-fed, comfortable family they should be. Everything is perfect.

But, of course, it’s not. The isolation, the sleeplessness, the demands of two people under two, are getting to Erika. She has never been so alone, and once the children are asleep, there are just too many hours to fill until morning, and there is something coming to get her . . .

Kyra Wilder’s Little Bandaged Days is a beautifully written, painfully claustrophobic story about a woman’s descent into madness. Unpredictable, frighteningly compelling and brutally honest, it grapples with the harsh conditions of motherhood and this mother’s own identity, and as the novel continues, we begin to wonder just what exactly Erika might be driven to do..

This book made me feel very uncomfortable. It really wasn't one I enjoyed at all. It's well written, but not for me. 2*