The New Mother

It wasn’t the sort of neighbourhood for murder.

Natalie Fanning already loves her newborn son, Oliver, with everything she has. From the moment he was born she knew that she was meant to be his mother, even though she didn’t want that to be all she was.

When Oliver refuses to sleep, and her husband Tyler returns to work, Nat is left mostly alone in a new house, in a new neighbourhood, with the task of keeping her small son healthy and happy on her shoulders alone. No one else can breastfeed Oliver; no one else will protect him like she can; no one can help her.

No one, that is, except her neighbour Paul.

Paul is everything Tyler isn’t, and provides the lifeline she needs in what feels like the most desperate of times. When Paul is helping with Oliver, calmed by his reassuring, steady presence, Nat feels like she can finally rest.

But Paul wants something in return. It’s no coincidence that he has befriended Nat – she is the perfect pawn for his own plan.

About the Author

Nora Murphy attended law school in Washington, D.C., where she was an editor of Law Review and participated in two clinics, through which she studied the legal issues facing, and represented survivors of, intimate partner violence. She also studied ‘professional’ perpetrators of domestic abuse – those with high-profile careers or respected positions in society, and the unique challenges faced by their victims. Nora currently practices family law. A voracious reader, avid writer, sometimes sanctimonious vegetarian and devoted animal lover, Nora resides in Maryland with her husband, young son, three cats and two dogs.