Bitter Is the Heart by Mina Hardy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
**4.5-stars rounded up**
Bitter is the Heart took me by surprise. This story grabbed hold of me from the first chapter and never let go.
It was shocking, upsetting, disgusting, disturbing, toe-curling and eye-opening all at once.
In this novel we follow Tamar Glass, a woman haunted by childhood trauma who suddenly finds herself stuck caring for her abusive elderly mother, Ruth.
Tamar as a main character had my heart from the start. When I say she is haunted by her childhood, I mean it. There’s so much to unpack as far as her past relationship with her mother, as well as her father’s death, and even her relationship with her sister, Lovey.
Tamar is also starting to feel the effects of menopause and she has been through a divorce and is now on her own for the first time as an adult. Then mother arrives.
Ruth, Tamar’s mother, is reintroduced to her life in a disturbing way. Tamar wakes one night to find her Mom looming in the dark of her bedroom.
Ruth had been living in an Assisted Living facility 15-miles away and she had never been to Tamar’s house. How the heck did she end up there?
That scene set the tone for the entire novel. Hardy built out this story so well. She built the drama continuously. It’s brutal at times, but I was with Tamar all the way. I think some interactions between Tamar and Ruth could be shocking to some, but I feel like they felt natural and made perfect sense to me.
I feel like this book could have hit especially hard for me because I am close to the same point in my life that Tamar is, and while I can’t say I’ve been through the family struggles that she has, I can relate to a lot of the other aspects of her experiences.
I love that after her divorce she had returned to her hometown after a long period of time away. This did allow her to reconnect with people from her past, including her high school boyfriend, Miguel, who plays an important role in this story.
Incidentally, I also had a hs-boyfriend named Miguel…
There were so many scenes in this that left me with absolute chills, jaw on the floor, completely disturbed and needing more information. Once Ruth gets kicked out of her Assisted Living facility and moves in with Tamar, there was no turning back. It was high speed ahead.
Additionally, I loved the religious elements of this. Tamara is Jewish, and the Jewish faith was incorporated into this story in a big way. I had never read anything where it was done to this extent, and with this many impactful conversations. I feel like this will stand out in my memory because of that representation.
The only negative I can think of was there was a scene involving a puppy that I had to skip through. You’ll see it coming, Readers sensitive to animal content beware. Besides that, I was completely enamored with this story.
I noticed the synopsis recommends this for fans of Cassandra Khaw and T. Kingfisher. The Khaw comp I don’t get at all. I do see Kingfisher, for sure. While Hardy doesn’t include as much dark humor as Kingfisher does, the Domestic Horror elements and Tamar’s dry delivery of her thoughts do line up with things such as A House with Good Bones, The Hollow Places and The Twisted Ones.
When I was reading this I kept thinking of Ainslie Hogarth’s Motherthing, which I really enjoyed a couple years ago. I ended up connecting with this one more though because I feel like this has a more cohesive and traditional narrative style, which was easier for me to follow.
I also saw my friend, Crystal, compare this to My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon and I completely agree with that. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself while reading it.
If you enjoyed any of the books or authors listed above, you need to check this out. If you enjoy Domestic Horror, or Horror that incorporates Religious elements, you need to pick this up. If you just love Horror and always enjoy diving into a fun, disturbing story, you need to pick this up.
Thank you so much to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books and Dreamscape Media, for providing me with copies to read and review. The audiobook was so well done. I loved this and can’t wait for more from Mina Hardy!