The Couple Next Door

The Couple Next Door offers as a probing examination of the emotional effects of early motherhood, and the fears that threaten to consume new parents. Early in the novel, Anne admits her disappointment with new motherhood, expressing that “When Marco went back to work, the days had begun to feel unbearably long. Anne filled the hours as best she could, but it was lonely” (87). This feeling of estrangement from her child counters cultural assumptions about women and inherent maternal sensibilities. Anne has internalized these cultural beliefs, and she sees herself as flawed to the extent that her guilt over her post-partum depression transforms into an assumption that she is guilty of the murder of her daughter. In the six months since Cora’s birth, Anne has seldom slept—her mind racing with fears over her lack of maternal instincts. She experiences wild mood swings. She drinks recklessly. She feels paranoid that others are judging her. Lapena uses Anne’s experience to hyperbolize the experiences of many new parents, sleep-deprived and suddenly confronted with a host of new fears about both their abilities as caretakers and for the safety of their child. In the tragic kidnapping of Cora, Lapena takes these fears to extreme conclusions, while also positing that the true problem lies not with Anne’s struggle to adapt to motherhood, but with those around her who would use her daughter for their own evil aims.