Tree Of Hands - Rendell, Ruth

Once when Benet was about fourteen she and her mother had been alone in a train carriage - and Mopsa had tried to stab her with a carving knife. It was some time since Benet had seen her psychologically disturbed mother. So when Mopsa arrived at the airport looking drab and colourless in a dowdy grey suit, Benet tried not to hate her.