The most gripping account of motherhood since Rachel Cusk's A Life's Work' Independent A single mother wakes to blood in her mouth and flesh under her fingernails. A severed toe on the doorstep. A boy missing. But her child needs to get to school. There's a food shop to be done. Parents evenings, play dates and pasta for tea. Raising her child alone, she's done all she can to protect them. But what if she's the thing they need protecting from the most?