who really has your back?
In The Good Mother Test, Emily tackles her career as a single mom with conviction and high hopes, but it’s quickly clear that challenges, small and large, pop up without warning. In a culture where social media provides “friends” by the bushel, someone comes into Emily’s life by happenstance.
The attorney she impulsively hires to fight her unjust arrest charge is somehow different; she picks up the vibe right away. Growing up in the projects in England, Rodney is a black, gay man with little in common with Emily except a traumatic childhood and desire to succeed at all costs at everything he does. He takes a special interest in Emily when he notices that her child, Violet, is exceptional. He predicts Violet is bound for great things, important things. The little girl senses something special about Rodney, too. Throughout the novel, the three characters drift in and out of each other’s lives at unexpected moments, often when Emily is in trouble.
The more Rodney helps Emily, her trust in him grows almost blind. He fills various roles besides being her attorney--spiritual advisor, employer, psychologist, even a seer. As her life as Violet’s mother unfolds, a lot of people let Emily down. Rodney is neither exactly an ally nor a friend. He’s a “presence” whose constancy is her life jacket in the most turbulent storms.
The novel is purposely unclear whether this benefactor is just a piece of luck, fate, or another human being coincidentally wandering through the forests of time. The life lesson for Emily, and Violet, is that not all strangers who stumble into your life come and go. If you’re lucky, some stick around. One of Emily’s and Violet’s bonds, off the page, so to speak, is learning to accept a gift that doesn’t necessarily ask anything in return, other than you do for others what others have done for you.