I don't really recommend this for women who have kids. It was grim. I think it was going for a whole Yellow Wallpaper vibe but it just made me feel ill. I didn't like the stream of consciousness style, I didn't like the lack of punctuation and speech marks, I didn't like how she referred to her children by only their initials. I understand that this was intentional to create a kind of claustrophobic vibe but it just made me feel unreasonably irritated. I have experienced postpartum depression even if mine was mostly linked to sleep deprivation and this was not the right kind of book for me. Maybe it would raise awareness as reading for people without kids but for me it just felt triggering - not in the sense of 'oh now I feel heard' more just 'ugh this is not something I feel like revisiting'.

I don't like giving low ratings but I just don't think this book was for me.

Our unnamed protagonist is a mother of two, toddler E and baby B and married to M. We never find out their names. They move to Geneva as M gets a job there but he is away a lot. She is left with her two children in a country she isn't familiar with, she doesn't speak the language well and must keep her children happy and occupied day in, day out.

This is written in a very chaotic way. We get inside her head and can see her spiralling. I understand why it was written this way but I personally didn't gel with it. I completely appreciate how she felt; isolated, lonely, and the author really helps us to feel the way she does.

The premise of the book is great, I don't think I have ever read a book like this one.

Being a mum of two under the age of 4 is tough. Being a mum of two under the age of 4 and moving house is very tough. Being a mum of two under 4 (with one being a babe in arms), moving house with a workoholic husband to a country where you don’t speak the language is borderline mission impossible!!! I didn’t know who my narrator was, but my full sympathies went out to her as I got to know her and her family.

I’ll admit, it took me a bit to get into Little Bandaged Days for two main reasons. Bit confusing only having initials for the family characters, E, B and M and not having a name for my companion on this rather tense journey.

The unnamed narrator was rather unnerving. The more I read the more concerned I was for her welfare and that of her young children. But then Part 2 kicks off … that takes my nerves up a gear. What the hell happened between the summer and January??! And then I get more of these seriously uncomfortable insights into someone’s rather disturbing mind. I could feel my whole body tense up with apprehension as what was to come.

Little Bandaged Days is a tough and disturbing read. Its slow pace added to the unnerviness and tension. The interludes of the future break some of the monotony of normal life which isn’t a boring life. I was filled with fear as my narrator gradually lost her grip on reality and her actions became more erratic. I’m not sure quite what I make of this debut from Wilder. Her writing is such that I felt on edge throughout . I don’t know if it was my maternal instinct kicking in as my fear for the two innocents rose or whether it was Wilder playing with a psychological narrative. I wouldn’t say this was an enjoyable read, it was uncomfortable and unnerving. I’d be interested to see what Wilder writes next.

This was an enjoyable read and I would recommend it. thanks for letting me have an advance copy. I'm new to this author.

This book had me torn in two directions - hating it and liking it. The author irritated me with her lack of character names - just an initial. It’s hard work when you have to make up a name and then stick to it through the whole book so you don’t confuse yourself as you’re reading.... The other irritant was how she repeatedly repeated phrases to get the word count up. A page and a half of the same three words is very excessive.
On a good note, it was beautifully written, the detail was exquisite. A sad story which left me feeling like more could have been done to help the main character.

Let me start by saying that in many ways this book deserves 5 stars because it is an extremely well written and deeply disturbing account of one mother's inexorable slide into madness. It is like nothing I have ever read before.
The reason I only awarded the book 4 stars is for two reasons. Firstly, I think that this is a book that will not attract universal appeal and secondly because I was so distraught reading Little Bandaged Days that it was hardly an enjoyable experience. We don't always read for pleasure, and a book is more likely to have a lasting impact if the contents allow the reader to reflect upon their experiences or own belief system, but personally I have far too vivid an imagination not to have been scared by what I read.
Apparently, (reading the blurb), the mother's name is Erika but I don't once remember reading this detail. What I do remember is that the narrator's family have no names other than the initial letters prescribed to them. M is the husband and father, E the very young girl and B the baby. This in itself is original, perfectly fitting for the story, and adds to the alarming sense of losing one's mind. It speaks of being detached and lost in a crowded room. It perpetuates the loneliness and the panic that had me gulping for air.
Our unknown mother has moved to Switzerland for M to spend long, long hours, nights and days and weeks away in some high flying job whilst she is stuck in a small apartment looking after the two children and struggling to retain a sense of identity beyond the person who feeds, cooks, cleans, plays, entertains, nurses and worries about being good enough.
The pressure builds and the stream of internal thought becomes a frightening torrent, leaving me breathless and anxious and altogether horrified. There are days and times when she seems OK, but then there are increasing episodes of obsessive compulsive behaviour and paranoia, psychosis and self-harm.
I am not even sure if I understood all of the book. Was Nell real, or part of her? The sections in italics refer to a time and place that seems brutal and draconian, a desolate place of punishment designed to masquerade as treatment. So many hints of a criminal case and yet the ending, just as brutal, leads nowhere. It was as if I had fallen into an emotional abyss with no way back to my fellow humans.
This novel is not for the faint-hearted or emotionally fragile. It is intense, relentless and a beautiful-but-terrifying exploration of what happens when reality blurs to the extent that it disappears.
An exceptional achievement by the author but a read I would find hard to pick up again.
Thank to Kyra Wilder, the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Great book. I loved reading it. Very interesting and covers alot of information

Unfortunately, I have not been able to read and review this book.

After losing and replacing my broken Kindle and getting a new phone I was unable to download the title again for review as it was no longer available on Netgalley.

I’m really sorry about this and hope that it won’t affect you allowing me to read and review your titles in the future.

Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity.
Natalie.

Little Bandaged Days is a compelling tale of a woman’s slide into madness. So different to anything I have read before -we never get to know the names of the main character, her husband and children are referred to merely in initials, adding to the suspense. Its a WOW book

The title is a puller. What can it mean?
Well it’s about madness and the deep pull on someone into a different mindset. Totally loved this. 5/5.

It took me so long to finish this book. I just wasn't gripped by the characters, the plot or the setting. This book follows a lonely mother as she grapples loneliness, raising two young children and moving to a new country. We spend most of the book alone with her and her children who are only referred to by initials. This really bugged me as I couldn't develop a real connection to the characters; it also wasn't a good representation of the main character's growing depression as it started from the beginning.

Without giving away any spoilers, the plot was predictable but parts of the book was touching.

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,

I honestly struggled with this book, not so much with the content but more how it was written, it lacked formal chapters and read more like a journal. It lacked explanations so you had to figure out for yourself what was going on. The ending was sharp and really made no sense to me.

Erika's move to Switzerland with her husband and two small children should be exciting, but once they are there, she finds things increasingly difficult as her husband spends more and more time at work, she doesn't speak French and tries to keep her two little ones entertained. The story, written in the first person, shows Erika suffering from insomnia, and struggling with the isolation in a small flat with no garden. It's testament to the author's writing that I found this book increasingly difficult to read as the story progressed, reading it at a time when my own mental health was a little fragile, and unfortunately wasn't able to finish it this time round. It's an interesting and compelling insight into post-natal depression and the difficulties that many women face when looking after children with little adult interaction and I look forward to finishing it at a later date.

The book is a little strange because the main character never divulges the names of her husband and children, just mentioning them by an initial. E, B and M. I have never seen this in a book before.

It was quite a dark book, the MC’s mental health declined when she moves to Geneva with her husband and he is working all hours while she is looking after her small children.

I could relate on some level and I am sure a lot of readers could. It was sometimes an uncomfortable, heartbreaking and intense read.

My thanks to Pan Macmillan Picador for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Little Bandaged Days’ by Kyra Wilder in exchange for an honest review. It was published in January 2020.

Erika moves from the USA to Geneva with her husband and their two young children. She doesn’t speak French and almost from the moment they arrive she is left on her own. Her husband’s high powered job means that he is hardly ever home and her entire world revolves around caring for the children, not only making sure they are happy and fed but making sure that they appear to others as a happy perfect family.

She starts losing sleep and her feelings of isolation continue to grow. Her husband seems oblivious to her situation and her behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre. Eventually she has a psychotic breakdown and is admitted to a psychiatric facility.

Though the publisher’s summary refer to the narrator as Erika, in the ARC she was never named. Also, she only refers to her husband as M, her baby son as B, and her 4-year old daughter as E. This increased the sense of her alienation from her family.

As the narrator descends into madness her consciousness fragments and it’s a little hard to understand what is going on. What is real and what is part of her psychosis? It was rather confusing, which likely was the intention. On occasion there were chapters written post-breakdown inserted into the narrative.

I found this quite a challenging read and while I recognise the difficulty in depicting a psychotic break, it didn’t quite ring true for me. Would her husband really have been so oblivious to the drastic changes in her appearance and the neglect of their home environment and more importantly how her behaviour was impacting on their children?

Also, I would have appreciated the author saying something in her acknowledgments about mental illness. Instead, the main character’s breakdown and subsequent hospitalisation felt sensationalised rather than handled with sensitivity. Perhaps it’s just not the done thing with literary novels, preferring to be edgy and inconclusive. Its vague non-ending just fell flat.

Overall, I found that the way the complex subject of motherhood and postpartum depression/psychosis was handled just didn’t work for me.

Note: a slight niggle was Erika’s feeling alienated due to not speaking French in Geneva. While clearly a plot devise it doesn’t reflect that English is spoken in Switzerland by many and wouldn’t have been a serious barrier to communication.

A story of a mum who spends most of the time alone with her children. Husband has a demanding job in a completely new town which involves spending a lot of time away from home. This means that mum is always alone in a strange town, no friends, no place to go. Loneliness drives her to the point of madness. Good book, an eye opener.

A mother with two young children, moves from England to Switzerland for her husband's work. As her husband spends more and more time away from the family for work, she finds herself becoming isolated and deeply lonely. There were no names in this book, only initials. The mother slowly descends into depression followed by psychosis and her pain is visceral. The sense of impending tragedy is haunting and it is not an easy read. I feel somewhat ambivalent about the book as a whole and the ending for me left more questions than answers, but this may have been intentional. An interesting and moving story nevertheless.

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'Little Bandaged Days'. This was beautifully written and a poignant tale of a woman who moves to Geneva with her family but loses contact with family and friends. It details the journey into madness and makes the reader realise that circumstances can plunge a person into the depths of despair.

Little Bandaged Days is a beautifully written novel, but it might take some readers a little out their usual relaxation zone.

Written from our main protagonist's perspective, Little Bandaged Days takes us on a journey with her from arrival in Geneva, Switzerland through to her descent into madness.

The family's move from the US to Switzerland is a move facilitated by her husband's high flying career. He is the main breadwinner of the family, now that they have two children to care for.

After their initial arrival in Geneva, he is quickly sucked into the work environment where he spends almost of all his time. Leaving his wife, alone at home with their two young children.

She doesn't speak the local language, so even things like going to the local shops are difficult for her to manage. Her once mild anxiety worsens, as she spends her days alone with the children and her paranoia increases with every moment.

Little Bandaged Days is a very clever literary novel that won't be for everyone, but will be a delight for those daring enough to venture out of their comfort zone.

Terrifyingly good and just terrifying. This novel is a mesmerising journey into the heart of darkness as a woman’s loneliness and postnatal depression melt and then combust into insanity. The first person narrative and the quality of writing place you inside this woman’s mind, not knowing what is real or imagined, breathless with anxiety. This is psychological suspense on a whole other level. Whilst never veering from the personal, this story is searingly political, casting unflattering light on gender politics, wealth and privilege, awareness and treatment of mental health and how we let people fall through the cracks. Take a deep breath and read it.