59 pages • 1 hour read
The Perfect Child
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
The Perfect Child is a psychological suspense-thriller novel written by Lucinda Berry and originally published in 2019. Berry draws on her background as a psychologist and childhood trauma researcher to inform her thrillers and has written 10 novels so far, including Saving Noah (2017) and The Best of Friends (2020). The Perfect Child was an Amazon bestseller and a Best Fiction book of 2024; it was also shortlisted for the Giller Prize. The story’s two protagonists, Christopher and Hannah, are a middle-aged couple unable to conceive who choose to adopt a deeply traumatized girl named Janie. Through the experience, the couple learns The Sinister Side of Unconditional Love while fulfilling The Desire to Be a Parent and experiencing How Parenting Changes a Marriage.
This guide is based on the 2019 Thomas & Mercer edition.
Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of suicidal ideation and self-harm, pregnancy loss, child abuse, animal cruelty and death, physical abuse, bullying, addiction, death, sexual content, graphic violence, and mental illness (including reactive attachment disorder, postpartum depression, and postpartum psychosis). The source material also leans heavily into stereotypes surrounding “sociopathy,” a term no longer used in clinical diagnosis, and frames survivors of childhood abuse as potentially dangerous and violent.
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