Motherhood

Rosie Walsh establishes that mothers will do anything, at any cost, for their children in The Love of My Life. She explores this primal concept through the lens of two mothers: Emma and Janice. Emma becomes pregnant in college and is unsure whether or not she will keep the baby. After she almost miscarries, she is so distraught at losing her child physically that she decides to keep it. Even in her postpartum psychotic break, she worries about the imaginary baby she believes she has (her “daughter”), as well as her actual baby (her son). After receiving psychiatric help, she is so distressed that she could have harmed her son that she gives him to Janice Rothschild for adoption, placing his safety over her own desires.

After Charlie’s adoption, Emma spends the rest of her life with him at the forefront. Emma stalks Janice in...