Norma: A novel

When Norma’s mother, Anita, dies in an apparent suicide, throwing herself onto the metro tracks, Norma is devastated. Not only was her mother beloved as a parent; but Anita was also the only person on earth who shared Norma’s secret: her hair grows constantly, reacts emotionally to every person and situation, and may even have powers of its own. At Anita’s funeral, Norma is given cause to believe her mother’s death is not what it seems–and that someone, or many someones, may have wanted Anita dead. And maybe even caused the death themselves. As Norma pursues the truth, she stumbles into unsettling truths about her mother’s profitable involvement in selling hair–specifically, Norma’s hair–and a sinister ring of baby farms. Norma finds her own life threatened, without any idea whom to trust.

Oksanen puts Norma through her paces in this tale, burdened as she is with hair that keeps no secrets and threatens at all times to take on a life of its own. The multiple points of view make the story somewhat difficult to follow clearly, but the arresting imagery carries readers along.