Good Days Bad Days: A Novel

Charlie McFadden was removed from her home by CPS at age fifteen after living in hoarded conditions. Her mother Betty prioritized her possessions over her daughter, and her father chose to stay with Betty. Neither parent chose Charlie. Thirty-one years later, Charlie is a mother herself and cohost of a popular reality show with her husband. She has built a life independent of her parents, whom she has not seen since childhood. When her father contacts her asking her to return home to say goodbye to her mother—now in a memory care center—Charlie reluctantly agrees. Betty experiences both good days, when she recognizes Charlie with familiar resentment, and bad days, when she exists in the past as a young, happy mother with a newborn. On these difficult days, Charlie feels the maternal love she never received. As Charlie spends time with her mother, she discovers memories that reveal a different woman than she knew—one who was bright and full of promise. Beneath these recollections lies a closely guarded secret that, if shared, might offer healing to the fractured family—if Betty can remember it.