Eddie Hest vs. Suburbia

Children’s author Castoro (How to Keep Monsters out of Your Room, as Catie Cat) makes her adult debut with a winning portrait of a struggling Detroit single mother trying to make a better life for her daughter. Edwina “Eddie” Hest is evicted from the apartment she shares with her nine-year-old daughter, Grace, after the landlord sells the building, prompting Eddie to borrow money from her mother for a down payment on a small suburban house. She thinks their newfound stability will help her be a better mother to Grace, whose father is incarcerated. Structured as a series of transcripts from Eddie’s therapy sessions, the voice-driven narrative depicts how Eddie, a self-described “rebel” with tattoos and dyed purple hair, gradually loses the chip on her shoulder (“I don’t intend to hang out with suburbia,” she says early on) as she spends more time than she’d like with soccer mom Sheila, whose daughter is friends with Grace. The story takes a strange turn when Sheila blackmails Eddie, threatening to expose the fact that Grace’s father is in prison. Castoro skillfully raises the stakes all the way to the deliciously karmic ending. It’s a satisfying tale of redemption. (Self-published)