The Mother-Child Relationship

Even at the best of times, the relationship between a mother and her children is tumultuous. There is no other group of people in the world with whom you can have such extreme feelings on a consistent basis.

The Shell Seekers essentially explores this relationship between a mother and her children from both perspectives. For Penelope, it is distressing to watch her loving children become the adults they have chosen to become. Her daughter Olivia is the only one who really understands her and it is for this reason that she communicates closely with her, updating her when she returns from the hospital, when she takes a trip to Porthkerris with Antonia and Danus and when she gives Antonia the pearl earrings. Nancy, on the other hand, feels that she has been given nothing of value from her mother throughout her life and a whole lifetime...