In Sophie Hannah's "The Wrong Mother," thirty-eight year old Sally Thorning loves her husband and two children, but she has difficulty juggling her professional and personal responsibilities. There are times when she yearns to leave her family behind and take a breather. Little does Sally know that she is about to enter a nightmare that will make her everyday problems seem trivial. She discovers, to her horror, that a woman named Geraldine Bretherick, who allegedly killed herself and her six-year old daughter, looks very much like her. Furthermore, Sally remembers having met and befriended someone who pretended to be Geraldine's husband, but whom she now realizes was an impostor. Sally is terrified of going to the police, since she has secrets that she does not wish to reveal.
Although the detectives suspect murder/suicide, there are anomalies that cast doubt on this theory. Geraldine left a diary on her computer in which she unleashes a vitriolic attack on her young daughter and on the institution of motherhood. People who knew Geraldine well insist that she would never have expressed such rage. The police are in a quandary and in desperation, they start looking at the victim's bereaved husband, Mark, as a possible suspect.
Hannah has a feel for character and dialogue, and she effectively explores a number of controversial themes. We live in an age of the supermom, who gamely tries to take care of her husband and children while holding down a full-time job. Few mothers would admit that they are in over their heads, and even those women who dote on their kids may occasionally feel exhausted and overwhelmed. Although there are some fathers who willingly do their fair share, there are others who expect their wives to shoulder most of the burden. What impact can such continous stress have on a mentally unstable individual? Hannah plays with this theme and then carries it to an extreme.
Sally is a compassionate individual who would like to come clean to the authorities, but her sense of self-preservation interferes with her good intentions. Mark Bretherick appears to be shattered by the loss of his wife and child, but is it possible that he has not revealed everything that he knows? One of the detectives, Simon Waterhouse, is convinced that he and his colleagues are making some erroneous assumptions, and he senses that there is a great deal more to this case than meets the eye. In addition, Simon has romantic feelings for his former colleague, Charlie. However, she is still upset about a humiliating event that wrecked her self-esteem and she angrily refuses to consider a future with him. When the author finally brings her complicated plot to a head, we are tempted to mutter, "Come again?" Hannah expects us to buy some pretty bizarre scenarios, and some readers may find it difficult to suspend their disbelief. "The Wrong Mother" is suspenseful and involving enough, even if reading it is akin to watching a train wreck. Sophie Hannah shatters the myth that everyone can effortlessly balance parental duties and a challenging career. Sometimes, the pressure of trying to hold everything together day after day can push an erratic person over the edge and deep into the abyss.
