Conflitti familiari e tensioni psicologiche in "The Girlfriend" di Frances

"The girlfriend" is a psychological thriller written by Michelle Frances.

In this book, the situation becomes the limit of madness: two rival women are fighting the same man.

Conflict between mother and daughter-in-law

The two women are the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law: they are animated by different motives and they cover different roles in the life of that man.

Both of them want him all for them, but in different ways. The man’s mother wants him because she doesn’t want to miss the son that she had loved and grown up.

The other one wants to be certain that no one will hinder the future he has to realize with his man.

Complications and moral questions

Initially, both try to be good and build a good relationship, but because of some misunderstandings, the situation becomes complicated until it becomes a real persecution. The reader is placed in front of a series of questions. Who is the worst of the two women? The mother, who is trying not to lose her son and be set aside? Or the girlfriend, who does not feel appreciated and fears that her story may be compromised on the birth and, consequently, end?

Psychological analysis and climax

Michelle Frances analyzes and deepens the psychological inner life of the two women, trying to find out the reasons for their rivalry. But the author is not confined to this psychological analysis: she imagines the climax of violence that a lie can cause.