Megan and Libby’s mother-daughter relationship shaped by loss

Megan and Libby’s mother-daughter relationship, though largely seen through memory and its aftermath, is central to Megan Hipwell’s understanding of herself. Libby’s death remains an intimate grief and a source of guilt; when Megan becomes pregnant again, that loss gives new force to her fear, her uncertainty, and her determination to become a different kind of mother.

A Bond Shaped by Loss

Libby is not present in the unfolding action, but Megan’s thoughts make clear that her daughter’s death has not receded into the past. As Megan considers the baby she is carrying, Libby comes vividly to mind: the new child is inseparable from the daughter she lost. Megan cannot imagine the pregnancy simply as a fresh beginning, because the earlier loss has changed what motherhood means to her and what she fears she may be capable of.

That history also helps explain why Megan is afraid of being alone with the baby. Her fear is directed both toward what might happen to the child and toward her own capacity to care for her. The novel does not present this anxiety as proof that Megan will harm the baby; it presents it as a fear shaped by bereavement and by the knowledge of her past. Love and terror coexist, rather than resolving neatly into confidence.

The Pregnancy and the Return of Libby

When Megan recognizes that she wants the pregnancy to continue, she connects the unborn child to Libby instead of treating the two experiences as separate. She imagines Libby’s face when she thinks about the baby and remembers the physical finality of her daughter’s death. The memory makes the decision emotionally difficult: Megan is frightened by the possibility of repeating the past, but she cannot bring herself to reject the child.

Megan’s call to Kamal Abdic shows how acutely the pregnancy has unsettled her. She seeks his help while alone and panicking, and his reassurance that she has been forgiven helps her see that she cannot keep running from what happened. His response does not erase Libby’s death or settle Megan’s fears. Instead, it gives Megan a way to consider the future without pretending that the past can be wiped away.

A Different Account of Motherhood

After lying awake beside Scott Hipwell, Megan decides to tell the truth and to try to do what she believes is right for the baby. She resolves to love and raise the child, explicitly linking that commitment to what she owes Libby. Her promise that the new child will be raised differently makes the relationship between the sisters—one lost, one still unborn—a moral as well as an emotional connection.

Megan’s decision is also a struggle over identity. She recalls having been described, or having thought of herself, in many roles, including a bad mother. Rather than claim that she has already become a good one, she decides that she must try. The distinction matters: her resolve is not a declaration that grief or guilt has disappeared, but a commitment to act differently despite the uncertainty that remains. Libby’s memory becomes part of the standard Megan sets for herself as she faces motherhood again.

Rumour, Memory, and Judgment

After Megan disappears, Anna Watson reads a news report alleging that Megan may have been involved in the unlawful killing of her child ten years earlier. The report presents the allegation as a possible motive in the murder investigation, while Detective Inspector Gaskill makes no comment. The account is therefore a public claim, not a confirmed explanation of Libby’s death. Its appearance shows how a private bereavement can be converted into suspicion and used to judge Megan after she is no longer able to answer for herself.

Anna’s earlier recollection of Megan caring for Evie offers a separate, limited view of her around a child. Anna remembers coming downstairs to find Megan and Tom Watson standing close together while Evie cried in her high chair and neither adult looked toward her. That remembered scene contributes to Anna’s later unease about Megan, but it does not establish what happened to Libby or define Megan’s bond with her daughter. The difference between witnessed behaviour, rumour, and Megan’s own remembered grief is essential to the novel’s treatment of motherhood and blame.

Burial and Aftermath

After Megan’s death, Rachel Watson drives to Holkham, where Megan’s ashes have been buried beside Libby’s bones in a churchyard outside the village. There had been controversy over the burial because of Megan’s alleged role in her child’s death, but it was allowed. Rachel considers the arrangement right, judging that Megan has already been punished enough; her response registers sympathy without resolving the unanswered questions surrounding Libby.

The grave is in the far corner of the churchyard, almost hidden beneath a line of firs. Megan’s marker gives her name and dates, while Libby’s stone bears only her name. The modest markers contrast with the intensity of the mother-daughter bond that has shaped Megan’s life: the burial does not undo their separation, but it places them together and gives Libby a marked resting place rather than leaving her unacknowledged beside the railway tracks. Rachel’s visit also extends the relationship’s effects beyond Megan’s life. She leaves grieving not only Megan’s loss but the imagined life of the family she once thought she saw from a distance.