Book review: The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth

All families have drama, but not all families have a murderer in their midst.

Diana, the mother-in-law, is strong, independent and married to kind and generous Tom. As the story unfolds, the reader learns she became pregnant at a young age. Her parents disowned her for having a child out of wedlock, so she learned to survive on her own terms. Diana’s daughter, Hetty, wants a baby and hopes her mother will give her money for in vitro fertilization. Her mother does not agree; she see Netty as needy and desperate and also has reason to believe her son-in-law is having affairs. So Netty eventually asks her sister-in-law Lucy to be a surrogate.

Lucy is a stay at home mom and has an equally fraught relationship with her mother-in-law. But she begins to understand Her frosty relationship with Diana. She and her husband have a new business which is in financial trouble. When he learns of his mother’s death, he hopes to use the money to pay off those debts. All the kids hope for an inheritance. Diana dies, presumably of suicide, but where did all the money go? She left a note but it’s hidden, not left in the open.

If you’re looking for a page turner with fairly predictable characters, this novel is a win for you. You may be surprised by the actions of such predictable characters.

“Some people jumped in and tried to save someone who was in trouble; others did anything they could to save themselves.”

Sally Hepworth, The Mother-in-Law