Who do you think is the "real" love of Emma's life, or is there more than one?

The title of the book—The Love of My Life—implies that Emma has only one true love, but her circumstances throughout the novel indicate something very different. Who do you think is the "real" love of her life, or is there more than one?

Titles are so often a primary reason for choosing a book but also frequently disappointing as a clue to the authors intentions. If there is one CORRECT answer to the real love of her life, it is sufficiently ambiguous so as to make it pointless to dwell on this as the point of the book. Personally, i feel that i would like to know more about the crab. She actually doesn’t have to limit herself to one as her choices are numerous. Having gone thru IVF, it’s easy to believe the daughter would be at the top of the list.

I kind of agree with the preceding response, but I think she lived a conflicted life and having had a very virulent form of post-partum depression taking two years to get out of, it might have seemed that way, but she's all Leo to me.

Of course, there is more than one love for Emma! And the title of the book shows us that - The Love of My Life - takes us through Emma's relationship with her husband as well as both of her children. As any wife and mother knows, one's life partner and children are all favorites and loves, and all for different reasons. Emma shows us time and again why she feels this way for Leo, and she does the same as we watch her interact with Ruby. Early on we saw as she gave Charlie away, believing she did it for what she felt was best for him. Finally, later in the novel, when he comes to meet her as an adult, we see her interact lovingly with him as well. Each one of these individuals is the love of her life for completely different reasons - a perfectly natural and normal part of parenting and family life.

At the beginning, of course, we believe Leo and Ruby are the love(s) of Emma's life, as the book is written mostly from her perspective. But then we find that there is another hidden love, a baby she had secretly 19 years before under disturbing circumstances, so she has that love too. So yes, there are more than one "real" loves in Emma's life.

Emma states that she has three loves. You think in the beginning of the book that it is just Leo, but then her children both of which she state are the loves of her life. Those of us that have children feel that they are the loves of our life as well as our husband, but in a different way.

I think both Leo and her son.

Upon finishing the book, I believe firstly it was Charlie because she tried hard to keep him, then to provide the best life for him, and then not to let go. I agree that Leo and Ruby are also loves of her life and complete her.

The ability to love knows no limitation. Otherwise how could we love multiple children, siblings, both parents, multiple friends. There are different loves like the romantic love of a spouse or the love of a child. The loss of a beloved spouse doesn’t mean that the widow will never find another deep romantic love. I don’t believe the love of a spouse should or can be measured against the love of a child

I didn't like the title of the book. It implies there is only one love that is "real." It isn't true in life or in this book so I think it was a poor title. Charlie may have been the first real love but then she had another child and a husband so which is really "real." I think the title suggest this will just be a romance but it isn't. It is much more than that so whoever picked the title should have picked a better one.

Maybe the title can be interpreted in a few different ways. I initially assumed it to be about the singular love or her life, but maybe it is about learning to accept and love her life as well.

I think we all have many loves in our lives. There is not a “real” one, only different ones.