The Girlfriend

The novel opens with a prologue: Laura Cavendish, a successful television producer, stands in a hospital bathroom steeling herself to make a phone call she considers heinous. She reminds herself that any mother would do the same, then dials. The content of the call is withheld, and the narrative jumps back nine months.

In June, Laura is eager to reconnect with her 23-year-old son, Daniel, a medical student home from Cambridge. They live in an expensive Kensington house with Laura's husband, Howard, a partner at a large accounting firm, though the marriage is emotionally hollow. Laura discovered Howard's affair with a woman named Marianne 20 years earlier; he promised to end it but eventually resumed the relationship. Laura stayed for Daniel's sake. Her devotion is rooted in grief: Her firstborn daughter, Rose, died at seven days old from an infection, and when Daniel was born 10 months later, Laura vowed to protect him at all costs.

Daniel reveals he has been dating Cherry, a trainee real estate agent at a Kensington firm. Cherry grew up in poverty in Croydon, South London, with her mother, Wendy, a supermarket section manager. Despite earning top marks in school, Cherry could not afford university. A relationship with the wealthy son of a business mogul ended when his family deemed her beneath them. The breakup taught Cherry that honesty about her origins was a liability. She reinvented herself, shed her working-class accent, and landed the Kensington job with an embellished résumé. She is genuinely attracted to Daniel but also calculating about the relationship's potential to transform her life.

Laura invites Cherry to dinner, hoping to bond. The evening is tense: Cherry struggles with the food and conversation and feels inferior. When Cherry places her hand possessively on Daniel's back after finding Laura's arm draped over his shoulders, Laura recognizes a territorial gesture. She resolves to try harder and invites Cherry to join the family at their villa in Saint-Tropez. Cherry fabricates a story about her grandmother having cancer in France to secure time off from work.

In France, Cherry and Daniel spend their time alone, leaving Laura excluded. Laura discovers Cherry's flight ticket in their bedroom: It shows no return flight and a cost of £500, though Daniel said he paid £600. Cherry's visit extends well beyond the agreed dates. Laura's belongings begin disappearing or turning up damaged, and Daniel's new painting is found torn. Cherry implies Laura damaged it, but after Laura flies home, Cherry reveals to the reader that she slashed the painting herself to drive a wedge between Daniel and his mother. Daniel gives Cherry a gold bangle for her birthday, and Cherry decides she will marry him.

Back in London, Laura investigates and confirms Cherry fabricated the grandmother story to get time off. She tries to warn Daniel, but he dismisses her concerns. At Daniel's going-away barbecue, Laura takes Cherry to the basement wine cellar for a private talk. A power cut plunges them into darkness, and Cherry ends up in the swimming pool. She tells guests Laura stumbled into her, then blurts out that Laura considers her a gold digger. Daniel leaves furiously with Cherry.

Cherry books a white-water-rafting trip in Wales that falls on Laura's birthday. On the river, Cherry's paddle accidentally strikes Daniel's forehead, and a wave throws him onto a rock. He is airlifted to the hospital with a subdural hematoma, a bleed on the brain, requiring emergency surgery. Daniel survives but does not regain consciousness and enters a prolonged coma. Laura eventually allows Cherry to visit twice a week, hoping her voice might aid recovery. Months pass with no change.

In February, Laura encounters Cherry at a pharmacy and suggests she take a vacation. Cherry books a trip to Cancún. Shortly after she leaves, Daniel's condition worsens: He contracts pneumonia, stops breathing, and has cardiac arrests. A specialist warns he may have only 24 to 48 hours to live.

The narrative catches up to the prologue. Believing Daniel is dying and desperate to spend his final hours alone with him, Laura calls Cherry the morning she returns from Mexico and tells her Daniel has died, has been cremated, and his ashes scattered in France. Cherry is devastated. Then, miraculously, Daniel begins breathing on his own. Over weeks and months, he gradually recovers. Laura perpetuates the lie: She tells Daniel that Cherry abandoned him early in his coma, destroys his old phone, and takes him to France to recuperate far from Cherry.

Cherry, believing Daniel is dead, spirals into grief. She is fired after offensive tweets appear on her account, planted by Laura using Cherry's saved login on Daniel's laptop. Unable to afford rent, Cherry moves back to Wendy's flat in Croydon. Months later, she calls the hospital and discovers Daniel never died there. She traces his discharge, confronts Laura, and vows revenge.

Cherry orchestrates a fake meeting to lure Laura from home, then goes to the Cavendish house. When Daniel sees her, he learns his mother lied. He moves out, and Cherry moves in with him. During her time in the house, Cherry steals sheets of Laura's embossed notepaper and a sample of Laura's handwriting, which she later uses to forge letters. The couple becomes engaged, and Cherry buys two cocker spaniel puppies, keeping one she names Rufus and killing the other to use against Laura.

Cherry systematically dismantles Laura's life. She confirms Howard's affair and forges a letter to Marianne on Laura's stolen notepaper, prompting Howard to demand a divorce. She sends the dead puppy to the lead actress of Laura's new television drama with a threatening note purportedly from Laura, causing the actress to quit and the production to collapse. The police cannot act because no one will file a formal complaint. Laura grows increasingly isolated, estranged from both Daniel and Howard.

In desperation, Laura visits Wendy at her supermarket, confesses the lie, and describes Cherry's revenge campaign. Wendy refuses to intervene but later confronts Cherry, who slaps her in a rage. Wendy contacts Daniel through Facebook, recounting a childhood incident that reveals Cherry's pattern of vindictive behavior. Daniel is shaken but keeps the conversation secret.

Laura visits Daniel at the hospital, and he agrees to come to her house that evening. Cherry discovers Wendy's betrayal in Daniel's phone history. She drugs Daniel's food with a sleeping pill, deletes Laura's messages, and sends Laura a text from Daniel's phone saying he is coming. Cherry goes to Laura's house herself.

Laura opens the door expecting Daniel and finds Cherry. In the garden, Cherry notices a gaping hole where builders have removed the glass ceiling panel over the basement swimming pool. She maneuvers Laura toward it, intending to push her in and stage the death as an accident. Daniel, roused from his drugged sleep when Rufus licks his face, discovers Cherry gone and races to the house. He bursts into the garden shouting just as Cherry charges at Laura. Cherry turns toward his voice and loses her balance. Laura, in a moment of self-preservation, shoves Cherry away rather than catching her. Cherry falls through the opening and dies.

The coroner records a verdict of accidental death. Howard moves in with Marianne, and Daniel rents a new flat. Laura sells the Kensington house and buys a smaller place nearby. They begin rebuilding their relationship. Laura carries a secret she has told no one: In the split second when Cherry fell, she could have saved her but chose to push. Whether the act was self-defense or something darker, Laura does not know, and the question haunts her.