The Wrong Mother

This enjoyably twisty psychological thriller from Duckworth (Unfollow Me) plunges readers in into the turbulent life of 39-year-old Faye Miller. Desperate to escape her three-week-old son’s father for initially unclear reasons, she’s on the run without much in the way of a plan. Faye chooses to hide out in the tiny Norfolk village of Helston, where her late great-aunt once lived. Fate and the internet bring her together with Rachel Morris, a lonely 64-year-old woman advertising the rental of a “bright and spacious” spare room in her cottage. At first, Rachel—a former Girl Guide leader and long-standing member of Helston’s annual bonfire night committee—appears as the picture of small-town hospitality. But before long, Faye begins to wonder how much she can trust her, and in narration that shifts back and forth between the young mother and older landlady, buried secrets from both emerge and threaten to combust. A handful of third-act coincidences strain credibility, but Duckworth skillfully metes out clues in the protagonists’ personal histories that will send readers scurrying to revise their expectations. This sturdy page-turner beguiles to the end. (June)