title: The Perfect Mother: A Novel
author:  Nina Darnton 
description: Praise for <em>The Perfect Mother:<br /></em><br /><span>"Darnton combines real-world events with a fabulous mix of suspense and intrigue...the perfect read." --Clive Cussler<br /> <br /> "This haunting page-turner will keep you up all night and be long remembered after the last page has been read."--Mary Higgins Clark</span><br /><br /> "In this fictionalized account of the Amanda Knox case, journalist Darnton asks the question any parent would dread: Is my child capable of murder? Although certainly inspired by the Knox trial, Darnton focuses more on the emotional landscapethe relationship between mother and daughter, how a child's accomplishment becomes the parent's. On the surface, Jennifer Lewis seems that titular perfect mother, and the proof is in Emma, the kind of teenager who volunteers, makes good grades and gets into Princeton. Now on her junior year in Spain, Emma calls home with the shocking news that a man tried to rape her and has been killed. Jennifer flies to Seville, but her reconciliation with Emma is surprisingly rocky. Released after intensive questioning (she claims that after she screamed for help, a stranger came into her apartment, killed the rapist and fled), Emma is hostile and uncommunicative. Their high-priced Spanish lawyer and private detective Roberto Ortiz suggest more cooperationaccording to Spanish law, if the police simply charge her with a crime, she can wait up to four years in prison before a trial even begins, and as it stands, the police don't believe her story. And neither does Emma's father, Mark, a corporate lawyer, though Jennifer is convinced her daughter would never lie. As Jennifer becomes angry at Mark for his disloyalty, she becomes close with Roberto, who offers just the reassurances (she really is a good mother) that Jennifer needs to hear. When Emma's story begins to fall aparther boyfriend, Paco, is an ex-con drug dealer, the "rapist" a good boy from an affluent family, and her own kitchen knife is the murder weaponJennifer considers other aspects of her daughter's past, including lying, cheating and stealing, that reveal more than she can admit about her daughter and herself.A fast-paced thriller with the kind of emotional impact that transcends a simple whodunit." - Kirkus Reviews<br /><br />
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  Praise for The Perfect Father
  
  
  ‘I absolutely loved The Perfect Father! A real thriller of a ride with a twist
  I did NOT see coming’ Nikki Smith, author of All in Her Head
  
  
  ‘Unpredictable, tense and engrossing, The Perfect Father will challenge your
  perceptions of parenthood and keep you hooked from the first page to the last’
  Rebecca Fleet, author of The Second Wife
  
  
  ‘Modern, smart and fast-paced, this thriller had me hooked from the first
  page’ Ruth Heald, author of I Know Your Secret
  
  
  ‘I love Charlotte’s dark, messy takes on modern relationships, and this is no
  exception’ Claire McGowan, author of The Push
  
  
  ‘I loved this book. The Perfect Father is an emotional and intelligently
  written thriller. The twists are so expertly woven in that at times I had to
  pause to let them sink in. Highly recommended’ Elisabeth Carpenter, author of
  The Woman Downstairs
  
  
  ‘Such realistic, well-drawn characters, gripping emotional plot twists (that
  also feel rooted in 