Author: Karen Mack & Jennifer Kaufman
Publisher: Putnam Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 357
How
I Read It: ARC received from
the publisher - The views expressed in my review are mine alone and I have
received no compensation for these opinions.
My Rating: 3 Crowns
Synopsis: His theories would change the world - and tear
hers apart...
In the vibrant,
extravagant world of turn-of-the-century Vienna, Minna Bernays is an
overeducated lady's companion with a sharp, wry wit. Unwilling to settle and
marry, she has spent years working for frivolous, difficult women, stuck in a
social limbo, neither servant nor master. When Minna is abruptly fired, she
finds herself out on the street and out of options. In 1895, the city is aswirl
with avant-garde artists and writers and revolutionary ideas, but a single
woman's only hope for security is still marriage. In desperation, she turns to
her sister, Martha, for help.
But Martha has her own
problems - six young children and an overworked, disinterested husband who
happens to be the brilliant but imperious 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, her sister
is fascinated by his startling discoveries.
Minna is everything
Martha is not - intellectually curious, engaging, and passionate. Minna and
Freud embark on what is, at first, simply a meeting of the minds, but something
deeper is brewing beneath the surface, an inevitable catastrophe that she
cannot escape.
In this sweeping tale of
love, loyalty, and betrayal, fact and fiction meld seamlessly together. After
years of research, the authors have constructed 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.
*
Synopsis taken from the book jacket
My
Review: In this novel, we
get to explore what may have happened
between Minna and Sigmund Freud. Although there is a lot of speculation, from a
historical perspective, we don't know for sure if this affair ever happened.
However, speculation in historical fiction is one of my favorite things, so I
was all for this ride!
Minna is a rather
entertaining character, just the sort of woman I like to read about due to her
progressive nature. From what I can tell based on actual accounts of her, she
really was a reasonably progressive woman for her time, and I really like that.
Although she did spend more time worrying about what Freud thought of her than
I would have liked, but I guess a woman can only be so progressive!
That all being said, I
had such high hopes for Minna throughout the book, and I felt like she didn't
live up to them. Minna seemed to lose a lot of her independence as a result of
her relationship with Freud, and I generally prefer more of an attitude from my
heroines where they are completely willing to leave the men in their lives
behind based on what they think is best for them. I didn't see this with Minna,
which made me rather sad, particularly at the end of the novel.
Freud also comes across
as such a selfish jerk a lot of the time, which seems about right for him based
on common perception, but still not fun. It's one of those situations where I
kind of wish I could have met him in person, just to see what he was like, and
find out if these ideas about him were right or not.
On the whole, this
wasn't my favorite read, but it was still enjoyable and an interesting look
into life before women's suffrage.
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