The Better Mother

Zoe and her husband Ethan have a marriage she considers solid. Then a thirteen-year-old boy turns up at their door. He gives his name as Micah and tells them Ethan is his father, conceived before Ethan and Zoe met. His mother, who apparently never told anyone he existed, has gone missing.

Zoe lets him stay, since sending a child away is not something she can do. Micah fits in fast. He grows close to Zoe's daughter Anna, and for a time the household makes room for one more.

Then Zoe begins to notice small things. None of them can be raised with Ethan without making her sound like a wife who resents her husband's son. The novel stays inside her point of view, and the bind is tight: she is the only one who sees a problem, and speaking up would look like the very thing she wants to avoid.

The tension is domestic and slow to tighten. Micah sleeps down the hall from Anna, and Zoe has no proof to offer anyone.