Wreck the Halls: A Novel

The novel explores the complexities of healing one’s family relationships in adulthood via Melody Gallard’s and Beat Dawkins’s attempts to remedy their fraught parental dynamics. In the narrative present, Melody and Beat are both 30 years old. Although they are independent adults, they still have trouble claiming their autonomy beyond the context of their families. This is particularly true because their mothers, Trina Gallard and Octavia Dawkins, are “America’s most legendary female rock duo, Steel Birds” (2). Throughout their lives, Melody and Beat have lived in Trina’s and Octavia’s proverbial shadows and have, therefore, had to cater their personal needs and desires to their mothers’ needs and desires. For Melody, this has meant adjusting to Trina’s frequent absences and living without a supportive, reliable maternal figure. She knows that Trina is talented, energetic, and free-spirited but often feels as if Trina doesn’t see her. When Trina visits Melody once a year in New York, the visit is “a whirlwind and [Melody] barely get[s] a word edgewise with her” (49). In the narrative present, Trina’s maternal absence continues to weigh on Melody, particularly because she doesn’t have a father figure or any siblings.