The Stepdaughter

By Caroline Blackwood

Book Overview

"The Stepdaughter is the perfect book for people who find Joan Didion too even-keeled, Renata Adler too fair-minded . . . In its own way, it's a perfect novel . . . Blackwood's best book . . . It deserves to be a cheeky summer hit." --Gideon Leek, Los Angeles Review of Books

A wicked stepmother finds her ideal prey in Carlone Blackwood's "quite brilliant" (The Times) debut.

A lavish Upper West Side apartment is the site of a familial cold war about to enter a phase of dangerous escalation.

J is a lonely woman without even the luxury of being alone. Her husband has fled to Paris with his latest flame, but he's left J not only with their own four-year-old daughter, Sally Ann, but with the sulky cake-mix addicted, thirteen-year-old Renata, a leftover from his previous marriage. The presence of a pert au pair, Monique, serves only to make J feel more isolated and self-conscious. What she'd like is someone to blame.

Writing letters in her head to imaginary friends, J delights in dwelling on the hapless Renata, who "invites a kind of cruelty." This is an invitation J fully intends to take up--and like so many stepmothers before her, she will find that wickedness, once indulged, is a difficult habit to kick. A mordant black splinter of a book, Caroline Blackwood's first novel stands as proof positive of her eternal mastery--and mockery--of the darkest depths of human feeling.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1961341123
• ISBN13: 9781961341128
• Release Date: August 2024
• Publisher: McNally Editions
• Length: 120 Pages
• Weight: 3.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Easy, Entertaining Read

'J' (No name given) lives a fantasy life in NYC in a luxury apt. with killer views. She's in her mid-30's and has a small daughter. Her husband, Arnold, is a very successful attorney. She also has a young French nanny for her child. Paint her happy, right? Not! Caroline Blackwood tells us the tale of a very unhappy housewife. She writes letters in her head to imaginary friends lamenting her many woes and frailties. What has brought on this depression? Arnold left her and moved to Paris. Oh, yes, something else. He has left her with his fat, unhappy, emotionally disturbed daughter! The book is an easy read. I read it in one sitting. There is a twist ending that I won't spoil for you. Basically 'J' is losing it emotionally. She has everything and nothing. What's a gal to do when her husband informs her he has found someone younger (!) and French, and he is going to move in with her in Paris. She is left with their child, a 4 yr. old, a French exchange student/maid/nanny and a teenager who does nothing but make instant cakes by the tray full. What's worse is she doesn't share! And let's not go into her bathroom habits! That you can find out yourself. This book was published in the 70s but is as relevant today as ever. It always will be. Blackwood has shown us the other side of the coin. The ladies we run into at Barney's, Bloomies and see in W Magazine aren't always as happy as they appear. She peels away the make-up and exposes the raw, blemished woman who inhabits 'J's' body and mind. Not a pretty sight. I am a big fan of Caroline Blackwood. I would love to see someone make a movie about her. Any number of British actresses could play her. She lived quite a life. I'm just happy she left behind a legacy of books before she passed away.