What My Body RemembersMay 2, 2017 by Agnete Friis and Lindy Falk van Rooyen Hardcover (Soho Crime )

There’s a Danish word, ravnemodre, that translates as “raven mother” and refers to bad mothers. Ella Nygaard, the 28-year-old protagonist of WHAT MY BODY REMEMBERS (Soho Crime, $25.95), is considered such a woman. Because of debilitating panic attacks, she can’t seem to hold down a job, get off the dole or provide a decent home for her young son. No wonder. As a child, Ella watched her father kill her mother and was so traumatized she grew up full of rage. But for all that, Ella is no ravnemodre. When her son is taken away from her, she kidnaps him and flees to her grandmother’s vacant cottage on the North Sea. But she’s not safe in this village, where strangers ask too many questions and frighten her into revisiting the secrets of her brutal childhood. In this sensitive character study (translated by Lindy Falk van Rooyen), Agnete Friis, who writes the Nina Borg mysteries with Lene Kaaberbol, dares us to confront our prejudices against bad mothers and other outcasts.