Megan Tady's breezy, insightful sophomore novel, Bluebird Day, combines the cozy charm of a snowed-in Alpine ski town with a nuanced portrayal of a fraught mother-daughter relationship.
Retired champion skier Claudine Potts and her daughter, Wylie, haven't spoken much since Wylie declined to follow in her mother's footsteps, abruptly pulling out of competitive skiing to enroll at art school. But when Wylie's partner winds up injured right before the fitness competition they're scheduled to attend in Berlin, Wylie grits her teeth and calls her mom. Surprising them both, Claudine agrees to be Wylie's teammate. But for reasons of her own, she insists they stop first in Zermatt, Switzerland. There, they're squeezed into bunk beds in a bare-bones hostel within view of the Matterhorn (a reminder of the life both women have left behind). When an avalanche leaves them stranded for days, they must decide whether to risk life and limb to get to Berlin--or take the much greater emotional risk of mending their relationship.
Tady (Super Bloom) alternates between the Potts women's perspectives, vividly portraying Claudine's glittering career and the costs of her achievements. Tady also depicts Wylie's drive to please her mother, the relentless anxiety that eventually drove her off the slopes, and her difficulty in directing her own life post-skiing.
As the snow swirls down in Zermatt, Claudine and Wylie must navigate terrain trickier than any black diamond slope: the tension between deep love and raw ambition, and the treacherous patches of past mistakes. Though the Matterhorn holds no magical solutions, the Potts women may just emerge from this avalanche stronger--and closer--than they were before. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams