Freud's Mistress
by Karen Mack & Jennifer Kaufman
by Karen Mack & Jennifer Kaufman
Synopsis
His theories would change the world—and tear hers apart.
A page-turning novel inspired by the true-life love affair between Sigmund Freud and his sister-in-law.
It is fin-de-siècle Vienna and Minna Bernays, an overeducated lady’s companion with a sharp, wry wit, is abruptly fired, yet again, from her position. She finds herself out on the street and out of options. In 1895, the city may be aswirl with avant-garde artists and revolutionary ideas, yet a woman’s only hope for security is still marriage. But Minna is unwilling to settle. Out of desperation, she turns to her sister, Martha, for help.
Martha has her own problems—six young children and an absent, disinterested husband who happens to be Sigmund Freud. At this time, Freud is a struggling professor, all but shunned by his peers and under attack for his theories, most of which center around sexual impulses. And while Martha is shocked and repulsed by her husband’s “pornographic” work, Minna is fascinated.
Minna is everything Martha is not—intellectually curious, engaging, and passionate. She and Freud embark on what is at first simply an intellectual courtship, yet something deeper is brewing beneath the surface, something Minna cannot escape.
In this sweeping tale of love, loyalty, and betrayal—between a husband and a wife, between sisters—fact and fiction seamlessly blend together, creating a compelling portrait of an unforgettable woman and her struggle to reconcile her love for her sister with her obsessive desire for her sister’s husband, the mythic father of psychoanalysis.
Review
This book is in the vein of Hemingway's Girl or The Paris Wife or even Call Me Zelda (all three books that I loved) as a look inside the life and marriage of a popular historical figure. Freud is intriguing in that his work is so renowned and reading about him was a flash-back to Psch 101, in a good way. It's no surprise his home life was a little wacky. I think this book was a little on the predictable side, but I also loved that it was a quick and easy read with characters to love and hate and love and hate at the same time. This is a book that will stick with me for a while not for how literary or moving it was, but because of the fantastic job of the author did of sweeping me into the story in a light and airy way but also with impact.
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