60 pages • 2 hours read
Rosie WalshThe Love of My Life
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: Women Serving as Members of Parliament
The United Kingdom is governed by Parliament, a legislature that consists of the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. A member of Parliament (MP) is an elected member of the House of Commons. Since Parliament’s formation in 1707, MPs have traditionally been male landowners. However, in 1918 women were given the right to vote and to become MPs. Despite this change in the rules, women have been the minority in Parliament. In 2020, only a third of the 650 MPs were women. In fact, until 1997, female MPs held less than 10% of the MP positions in Parliament. Nancy Astor was the first woman to sit as an MP in Parliament in 1919. The woman who sat as an MP the longest, dubbed the Mother of the House, is Harriet Harman. Ms. Harman has been an MP since 1982 and was reelected most recently in 2019. In this novel, Emma’s grandmother, Gloria Bigelow, was an MP in the 1950s when it was still relatively new for women to be elected to the House of Commons. This role gave her a certain level of notoriety and respect, leading to Leo’s involvement in writing her obituary and his introduction to Emma.
Cultural Context: Pre-writing Obituaries
In the novel, Leo is an obituary writer whose work is focused on celebrating the lives and accomplishments of well-known individuals who are not yet deceased. While commemorating people who are very much alive may seem morbid, it is more practical than pessimistic. News organizations try to be prepared for multiple angles of coverage that will be needed when a famous person dies, and an obituary is one component of this process. According to a contemporary article on advance obituaries, The Washington Post has about 900 obituaries on file that are updated as needed (Fu, Angela. “Some news organizations have hundreds of obituaries ready to publish.” Poynter.org, 2022). As noted in the referenced article, when Queen Elizabeth was under medical supervision shortly before her passing, the Post updated its pre-written obituary. Their readiness paid off, as their obituary was published just one minute after the official announcement of her death. Two factors have contributed to the rise of pre-written obituaries. First, breaking the news on the Internet requires an unprecedented readiness with content that can be posted anytime. Second, in recent years, editors have sensed that readers want more interesting obituaries that go beyond the basic biographical details. Writing captivating and unique obituaries is easier when a tight deadline is not looming. In some cases, well-known individuals will consent to be interviewed just to share stories and information to be included in their obituaries.
Cultural Context: Adoption
Adoption is a common practice that is often complicated by how society defines family. Parents who adopt children sometimes keep the adoption a secret to protect themselves and the child in question from feeling different or being judged by people who disapprove of non-traditional families. This secrecy also impacts the other side of adoption, causing women who have given up their children to hide this fact to avoid being judged by those who might not approve. In this novel, Walsh explores how these secrets can impact the relationships of those directly and indirectly involved in the adoption.
Another aspect of adoption explored in this novel is the stress of the biological mother potentially changing her mind. Adoptions are often not final until the child is six months to a year old. This could lead to uncertainty for both the adopting parent(s) and the biological mother. When a woman becomes pregnant unexpectedly, it can lead to complications in her life. Choosing to give a baby to someone else can lead to intense stress that will remain long after the adoption is completed. Laws regarding adoption can also present uncertainty in the security of a parent’s relationship with their adopted child. When there is a possibility the child can be taken from the home—laws in most countries largely lean toward the rights of the biological family—it is understandably difficult for an adoptive parent to fear the loss of a child they’ve come to think of as their own.
