The Mother-in-Law

It is dinnertime at Lucy Goodwin’s home in Australia. Ollie, her husband, grills outside, and Lucy folds laundry as their three young children, Archie, Harriet, and Edie, play. Lucy worries after noticing a police car pull up to her home. She wonders if it is about Ollie’s sister Nettie who is ill. Their youngest child Edie opens the door, and the police ask to speak with Ollie privately. They inform Ollie that his mother, Diana, is dead. Lucy is not shocked by this news.

Flashing back 10 years, Lucy meets Ollie’s parents for the first time and is overwhelmed by the wealth and glamour of his family home. Lucy quickly feels rejected by aloof Diana, who operates a charity for pregnant refugee women. She also meets Ollie’s younger sister Nettie and her husband, Patrick. The family questions Lucy about her relationship with Ollie and her past. When Lucy begins sharing details about her mother’s death from breast cancer, Diana abruptly ends the conversation to announce dinner. Despite these ominous signs, Lucy remains optimistic that “before long, we’re sure to be the best of friends” (16). Lucy recalls her doting mother, Joy, who passed when she was 13. Shortly after her mother’s death, her father hired a maid named Maria, who cared for her like a mother.