Nobody knows better than a psychotherapist that every one of us has a story to tell. Adaia Shumsky, an Israeli psychotherapist and educator, now retired, has listened well to her clients and students. Building on their stories, she has created a memorable novel which casts light both on individual lives and on some of the large struggles roiling Israel: Orthodox vs. secular, progressives vs. traditionalists, attitudes toward lesbians, the painful pathologies in some Holocaust families, and—perhaps most poignantly—the conflicting theories about how to raise an autistic child.