The Delivery Room

by SylviaBrownrigg (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.25

  It is 1998. In the safe haven of her North London flat -- in a room her husband has ironically dubbed the Delivery Room -- Serbian therapist Mira Braverman listens to the stories of her troubled patients. As the novel unfolds, Mira discovers she is not as distant from their pain as she might once have been: her husband Peter struggles with illness, NATO's threats against her country grow more serious, and submerged truths from her own past seem likely to erupt. 'The contrasts Brownrigg draws between war and peace, death and life, make you feel the preciousness of things that are easy to take for granted. If you spend time in her world, you find yourself in a place that is refreshingly attuned to the small things of life, the things that make it worth living' Guardian 'Brownrigg's ability to invent character is outstanding ...This is a novel in which there is a satisfying sense of trespass and of comprehensive revelation, as Brownrigg ambitiously plaits the narratives of patients and therapist together. She would make an excellent, if rebellious, analyst herself' Observer 'A stunning interpretation of birth, death, war and bereavement' Scotland on Sunday 'Grippingly readable ...An old-fashioned novel, one full of texture and detail, in which character and plot are patiently dissected and illuminated so that a larger picture might become apparent. In its ambition and commitment, The Delivery Room stands out as one of the most striking and pleasing novels so far this year' TLS 'Both intensely intelligent and highly readable' The Times

• Used

  Hardcover
  2006

  $3.25

  Anger, grief, boredom, frustration, resentment - Mira, an experienced therapist, has seen and heard it all before; nothing can shock or faze her and, although she works from home, the line between the personal and the professional is, for her, a boundary not to be crossed. Occasionally, the thin walls allow her husband's cough or a clatter of shoes to penetrate - or perhaps a client touches a nerve - but Mira is practised at politely sidestepping any attempts to draw her in (or out). Once the last client closes the door behind them, however, Mira too has her share of concerns and dilemmas demanding acknowledgement, attention and (re)solution. But as she navigates the central relationships in her life - with her husband, and the son he didn't know about for years, with her war-ravaged homeland, and the sister who lives there still, with her various clients - she finds it's not always easy to keep home and work separate. Written in tight, precise prose, The Delivery Room is Mira's story - the story of the people and places in her life and the delicate, precarious balance between them.