A New Mother's Descent Into Madness

"In Bloodfire, Baby, Sofia is a new mother whose Blackness is never too far from her mind - or those of her white neighbors in her wealthy enclave of the North Bay. She has escaped her own mother's Jehovah's Witness zealotry, found love in New York with an earnest and well-intentioned young white man, Emil, and dove headfirst into a Bay Area life of wedded and maternal bliss."

"Except, as any mother can tell you, it's not all bliss. Even before Emil, an assistant film director, leaves for a three-week shoot, Sofia is filled with worry and distrust. After he's gone, Sofia eyes even her closest friend with suspicion, begins to venomously detest her condescending mother-in-law, and descends slowly into psychosis - alone, unkempt and unsure of her surroundings."

"What I can tell you is that it feels very alive and real, just as much as Carson's previous work, The Dead Are Gods - an engrossing, award-winning memoir about a chaotic-in-the-best-way friend who copilots Carson in and around the London club scene of the 2000s, and of the consuming grief after her unexpected death. One more thing: do not miss the book's final climax. If, like me, you read it while dizzy and delirious on a few hours' sleep, it hits even harder."

Sofia, a Black new mother in a wealthy North Bay enclave, navigates persistent racial awareness and the residues of a strict religious upbringing while adjusting to parenthood. Her partner Emil leaves for a three-week film shoot, triggering heightened anxiety, distrust of friends, and growing hostility toward her mother-in-law. Isolation and sleep deprivation compound her fear, and she slowly descends into psychosis, becoming unkempt and disoriented. The narrative captures visceral postpartum experience, racial tension within a white neighborhood, and the erosion of perceived maternal bliss. The final climax delivers a powerful, disorienting emotional impact.

Read at Kqed