Book Review: The Night Olivia Fell | Christina McDonald

Heart-wrenching, emotional, beautiful, suspenseful, thought-provoking, and uplifting—this is a book that is filled with love in many forms, and that I won’t soon forget! When I read a book and I start to fall for the characters, I know that it will quickly become a favorite of mine. This book made me think about the impact of a single moment in time, and the ripple effect on the lives of those surrounding a young woman. It made me think about the chain of events that lead up to and away from a tragedy, and how we go about getting answers and finding a way to move forward when the worst happens. It is a story about the love of a mother, and the unrelenting pursuit of justice for her daughter.

About the Book

Early one morning, Abi Knight is awoken with the worst news a mother can hear—there’s been an accident. Her daughter Olivia is in the hospital in critical condition. By the time Abi arrives, she receives the news that Olivia has fallen off of a bridge and won’t ever wake up again. There has been irreversible damage to her brain.

Devastated, Abi wonders how to say goodbye to her only daughter and best friend. But there’s a catch—the doctors can’t pull life support from Olivia by law, because Olivia is pregnant. Shocked, Abi wonders how Olivia’s life got to this point with her being unaware. What happened that night? And how long has Olivia been pregnant? Did she know? Why didn’t she tell Abi, who was herself a teenage mother?

As Abi becomes determined to find the answers she seeks, the carefully constructed life she has created for herself and her daughter begins to unravel. A lie she told comes back to haunt her, and the secrets of Olivia’s life begin to surface. But despite all of the lies, Abi is certain Olivia’s death was not an accident. Her bracelet is missing, and there are bruises around her wrist. A string of text messages and digital clues may hold the answer to Olivia’s final hours.

What really happened the night Olivia fell?

Reflection

What an incredible debut novel by Christina McDonald this is! I want to first speak on her writing—it is incredibly filled with detail that makes the scenes and emotions leap right off the page. For instance, as Abi rushes to the hospital early one rainy morning, reeling from the call from the doctor about Olivia, McDonald describes the sensory details of that trip. The wet leaf caught on the windshield, being moved around by the wiper blades before finally tearing. The squeal of tires and grip of the steering wheel as she tries to balance her panic with arriving safely. The sharp contrast between the bright lights and the dark hours of the morning, glistening on the damp pavement. The shakiness in her legs. Her writing is like this throughout the book, contrasting the inner monologue of the characters with the detail of their surroundings. You can easily picture this book as a film, watching it play out before your eyes.

And the story itself is one that will leave you thinking about these characters long after you finish. It is charged with emotion, taut with tension, softened by the love of a mother and her grief. The horror I felt for Abi, hearing updates on the health of her grandchild while knowing that the birth of the baby would mean the death of her daughter—it almost overwhelmed me imagining what that would feel like. How can she be happy about her grandchild when she knows it will mean she has to let Olivia go? Abi was a character that I completely fell for. She is aware of her own shortcomings, tries to do what is best, and stumbles along the way. Abi felt like someone I could know in real life. Someone I may have passed on the street one time, wondering what demons haunted her eyes.

We also hear some of the story from Olivia’s perspective, in the months leading up to the accident. I loved the way these chapters were written—almost like a young adult novel. They had the voice of a teenage girl. McDonald captured the worry and impulsivity of a seventeen year old perfectly. These chapters were so important, because without them Olivia would only exist for us through the eyes and heart of her mother Abi. But Olivia herself is full of life and hope and teenage heart ache. It would be easy to have Olivia sainted through the eyes of Abi, but instead we see her—as imperfect and full of love as she is. With a life filled with potential, taken from her before her time.

Thank you to the author Christina McDonald and Gallery Books for an advanced copy of this book to review.