Writer and psychiatrist Saumya Dave draws upon her experience as a working mother with The Guilt Pill, a taut narrative that confronts the unrealistic balance demanded of women with careers and families. CEO Maya Patel appears to be doing it all: managing her fast-growing sustainable self-care company while on family leave and giving her all to her husband, baby, friends, and social media followers. When Maya's highly Instagrammable life starts to fracture under the pressure, fellow "#girlboss" Liz Anderson offers a way out: a pill that takes away the guilt. This miracle supplement quiets the voice in Maya's head, the one insisting, "You don't love your baby enough. You're a bad mother. And a bad founder." But soon, one pill isn't enough, and as Maya's reliance on the pills increases, so do the cracks in her marriage, family, and career. When she disappears one evening, everyone fears the worst.
The Guilt Pill opens just after Maya goes missing, then traces the events of the months before her disappearance. The investigation, told through a flurry of news items, police-interview and podcast transcripts, and online comments, will have readers flying through the pages to discover what happens, but it is the burden of each day leading up to Maya's disappearance that will resonate most. Despite some inconsistencies, Maya's struggle to maintain a healthy equilibrium will feel familiar to any woman who has lived inside the pressure to be and do it all. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian