The Perfect Mother
Nina Darnton, 2014
Penguin/Plume
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780142196731
Summary
When a beloved daughter acts against her privileged upbringing, her devoted mother’s worst fears play out, as their American family is pulled into the international spotlight.
Inspired by the infamous Amanda Knox case, and reminiscent of William Landay’s Defending Jacob, novelist Nina Darnton examines the complex questions of how well do we know our children—and how far would we go to protect them—in the riveting novel The Perfect Mother.
A midnight phone call shatters Jennifer Lewis’s carefully orchestrated life. Her daughter, Emma, who’s studying abroad in Spain, has been arrested after the brutal murder of another student. Jennifer rushes to her side, certain the arrest is a terrible mistake and determined to do whatever necessary to bring Emma home.
As details of the crime emerge, an examination of Emma’s lifestyle reveals risqué photos and a drug-dealing boyfriend. The police formally charge Emma and the press leaps on the story, drawing its own conclusions. One by one, Emma’s defense team, her father, and finally even Jennifer begin to question her innocence. How well did she truly know her daughter? Was Emma capable of doing the unthinkable? Can Jennifer shake off her doubts and stand by her daughter?
The Perfect Mother is a darkly imaginative thriller that probes the dark side of parenthood and the complicated bond between mothers and daughters. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 23, 1943
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Wisconsin-Madison, M.F.A., Columbia University;
M.S. New School for Social Research
• Currently—lives in New York City and New Paltz, New York
A journalist for thirty years, Nina Darnton wrote her first novel, An African Affair, in 2011 and never looked back. “After all those years struggling to get it right, it’s a great liberation to be able to make it up,” she says. Her second novel, The Perfect Mother was published in 2014.
As a journalist, Nina has written extensively for the New York Times, mostly about the arts. She wrote the “At the Movies” Column, and frequent celebrity profiles for the "Arts and Leisure" section as well as movie reviews, Sunday book reviews and longer articles for the Times Sunday Magazine. She has also published in Elle, More, Mirabella, Family Circle, House and Garden and Travel, and Leisure.
She was chief movie writer for the New York Post and a fashion reporter at Newsweek, travelling to London, Paris and Milan twice a year to cover the shows. She was also a contributor to National Public Radio and an essayist for the McNeill-Lehrer News Hour on public television.
With her husband, she has lived and worked in Nigeria, Kenya, Poland, Spain and England and used those experiences and some of those settings in each of her novels: the first takes place in Lagos, Nigeria, the second in Seville, Spain. She continues to travel frequently.
Nina has a BA from the University of Wisconsin with a major in Comparative Literature. She also has an MS in Psychology with a specialty in Child Development from the New School of Social Research and an MFA in Acting from Columbia University.
Nina is married to the journalist and novelist John Darnton. They have three children and four grandchildren and live in New York City and New Paltz, New York. (From the publisher .)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Nina on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Bringing real events to a suspenseful story, this book will fascinate readers. With a plot hinging on the relationship between a mother and daughter, and exactly how much of a child’s accomplishments a mother can and will take credit for, the twists and turns of the tale are memorable....A fictionalized tale reminding one quickly of the Amanda Knox case, this is a fast-paced thriller.
Suspense Magazine
Journalist Darnton’s second novel...fails to live up to its dramatic premise. Jennifer Lewis is compelled to travel from Philadelphia to Spain because her 20-year-old daughter, Emma...has been arrested in connection to another student’s murder..... Because Jennifer and Emma are two-dimensional, their choices and their conflicts are, oddly, both baffling and predictable.
Publishers Weekly
In this fictionalized account of the Amanda Knox case, journalist Darnton asks the question any parent would dread: Is my child capable of murder?... Jennifer considers other aspects of her daughter’s past...that reveal more than she can admit about her daughter and herself. A fast-paced thriller with the kind of emotional impact that transcends a simple whodunit.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Do you think Jennifer is a perfect mother? Does she think so? Do her children?
2. How do society and the media encourage women to strive for the chimera of being “perfect” mothers? How would you define a good mother?
3. Is there a difference between unconditional love and blind faith in your child? What is unconditional love and is it really ever possible?
4. What is a mother’s responsibility in the face of a possible serious crime by her child? What would you do?
5. Jennifer has given up her career to raise her children. Her own self worth is tied up in her children’s success. How much does this affect her refusal to see any flaws in Emma? In her marriage? In herself?
6. Jennifer is learning that she never knew her daughter as well as she thought she did. Do any of us really know our children when they are adults? Do they know us? Do they want to?
7. There are multiple versions of what happened to the murdered Spanish student. By the end of the book, whose story do you believe? Do you think the whole story still hasn’t come out? What does Jennifer finally believe?
8. Do you see parallels in this story with the true story of Amanda Knox? What is your opinion of that case? Do you think she is guilty? Why do we care?
9. Do you like Mark’s character and role in the story? What responsibility does he bear for Emma’s problems? What responsibility does he bear for his marital problems?
10. What do you think of the relationship between Jennifer and Roberto? Did you hope they would stay together or did you want to see Jennifer go back to Mark and her family?
11. What is your prediction of what will happen next in this family? What will become of Emma? Will Mark and Jennifer stay together?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)