May Book Club

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Dr. Addy Conrad, psychologist, encounters the ethical minefield common to private practice. Susan, a professional and mother with whom Addy identifies, is torn by a traumatic childhood. But Susan is more complex than what originally met the eye, having colorful interior personalities, and one tragic disclosure plants Addy squarely in a quandary. Her peak challenge, though, is Michael, a striking but narcissistic surgeon, who finally discards his emotional hide-and-seek to disclose his raw pain. At times, Addy waivers under his seduction, especially as her own marriage falters. She warms to Michael as he reveals his vulnerable, undone psyche. His flirting is intermingled with genuine therapeutic work, leaving Addy swaying, as if on a precarious high wire. A serpentine client, Carmen, reeking of cigarettes, snags Addy’s old memories of her mother’s death by cancer. Countertransference—where the therapist projects someone onto the client—grips her. A beloved former professor helps her…