In her follow-up to the explosively popular ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL, Sarah Vaughan returns with LITTLE DISASTERS, a propulsive, suspense-filled novel about two mothers and the children they have sworn to protect with their lives.

Liz and Jess are unlikely friends. Liz is an ambitious pediatric doctor who has been forced to toe the line between motherhood and her career in order to maintain a balance, and Jess is an effortlessly beautiful and put-together stay-at-home mother. The two met in a childbirth class when each was pregnant with her first child and formed a fast friendship over their shared fears and dreams of motherhood. Now, a decade and two shared pregnancies later, their friendship is suffering. Content with two children, Liz has dedicated herself once again to her career, eager to usurp her hateful manager’s position when he retires. Jess has surprised everyone by having a third child, her first daughter, Betsey.

For the first time, Liz is not as involved in Jess’ new baby as she was in the past, so she is surprised when Jess and Betsey show up at the ER one night while she is on duty. Though outwardly fine, Betsey will not stop crying --- hateful, angry cries that seem to rattle her mother beyond rational thought. But as she begins to examine the baby, Liz can’t help but notice that her friend is slightly off. She is not just tired and run-down; she is completely terrified. When Liz discovers a bump on Betsey’s head, and Jess’ half-hearted story doesn’t add up, she is forced to call in the authorities, jeopardizing not only Jess’ future with Betsey, but also their friendship and Liz’s role in their community.

"Every chapter written from the point of view of Jess is a masterwork in plotting and emotional nuance, and Vaughan is unflinching in her rendering of Jess’ intrusive thoughts.... LITTLE DISASTERS is a poignant conversation-starter of a novel."

Alternating between perspectives and timelines, Vaughan tracks Liz and Jess’ early friendship and how their lives have grown apart since Jess’ third pregnancy, setting their failing relationship against the present-day plotline of the investigation into Jess’ parenting. It quickly becomes apparent that Jess has been suffering from postpartum depression for quite some time. However, what is more shocking is how easily her husband, friends and doctors ignored every peculiar sign and symptom, and how, even now that Betsey has been hurt, they are unwilling to consider that Jess might also need care. But as Vaughan deftly unpacks every strange interaction and every hauntingly intrusive thought creeping into Jess’ mind, it becomes clear that there are more dark secrets in Liz and Jess’ lives than a harried mother and a bout of postpartum illness.

Although Liz has been removed from the case per her hospital’s protocol, as her friendship with Jess is well-known, she often takes the brunt of the emotional weight of the initial call to the authorities and social workers. She knows Jess would never hurt her own baby, but then why does her story fall apart so easily with the simplest questions? With their mutual friends and Jess’ husband alternately hounding Liz for details and berating her for standing against one of their own, she is forced to reconcile some dark truths about her own upbringing and opinions of motherhood.

Whereas ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL had more of a psychological suspense vibe, LITTLE DISASTERS unfolds in a more intellectual and thought-provoking way. There is no obvious villain, but Vaughan’s fearless trek into the mind of a woman suffering from horrible, violent thoughts about her own baby continuously raises the stakes until an explosive fallout seems not only imminent, but unavoidable. Employing all of the usual suspense techniques, Vaughan turns the genre on its head by asking us to consider what it means when the villain lives inside our heads --- and what a woman who is truly suffering can do to protect herself without sacrificing her children.

Every chapter written from the point of view of Jess is a masterwork in plotting and emotional nuance, and Vaughan is unflinching in her rendering of Jess’ intrusive thoughts. Battling her own psyche, she sees blood and mayhem every time she holds or runs for her daughter, and though the parenting books all say to step away when you begin to feel too irritable at the sound of your crying child, so too does public opinion deem any mother who is unable to console her child a monster. Walking the razor-thin line between love and destruction, Jess’ crushing shame and loneliness prevent her from reaching out and asking for help --- even when she needs it most.

LITTLE DISASTERS is a poignant conversation-starter of a novel. Vaughan carefully unpacks all the shame-inducing, highly competitive aspects of motherhood and reminds us that even in a world where celebrities are heralded for admitting that they have struggled with postpartum depression, we often cannot accept or even acknowledge the same “failings” in our friends and neighbors. The fear of coming so close to tragedy and disaster is too deeply ingrained in our society, and it is too often that women who are suffering feel that they have no means to reach out without being labeled a psycho or an abuser.

Some of the book’s most painful chapters do not revolve around Betsey’s suffering, but rather on Jess being questioned by police, with every aspect of her parenting laid bare for dissection and judgment. Vaughan’s careful delivery of the truth only heightens the tension, making it one of the most compelling suspense novels I have ever read.

Tightly wound, powerful and gut-wrenching, LITTLE DISASTERS would be paired beautifully with Kim Brooks’ SMALL ANIMALS, an equally divisive look into the balancing act that is motherhood. Though this is a work of fiction, it is clear that Vaughan has done heavy, comprehensive research into postpartum depression and its far-reaching effects, both within families and communities and in hospital and police systems. Bitingly smart and emotionally weighty, this is a novel you will not soon forget.