On the couch

Long experience of counselling others informs a satisfying and authentic novel.

THE THERAPIST, by Hugh Mackay (Allen & Unwin, $36.99)

Australian psychologist Hugh Mackay is both a noted social researcher and a prolific writer of fiction and non-fiction. The Therapist is his ninth novel. His long experience – Mackay is 85 – of talking and listening to people so he can report on the mood of the nation means he has heard more than most about the personal and family lives of Australians. His novels reflect this bedrock of experience.

In The Therapist, Martha, 67, is a therapist considering retirement. The novel tells the story of the clients who come to her with various conundrums. One is 79 and lonely, hiding her hardscrabble life from her high-achieving son who lives in America. Another is paranoid about her husband’s own visits to a therapist; what is he telling the therapist about her? Yet another has an ambitious, possibly philandering, wife who takes no interest in their child. There’s a couple, too; we don’t know what they’re up to, but they’re angry. Through Martha’s dealings with these clients and her reflections on her own life, Mackay explores loneliness, the benefits and dangers of honesty, and how your “family” doesn’t have to be limited by blood and legal ties.

Martha is a realistic and likeable character; she is divorced, the mother of a middle-aged daughter, and genuinely caring. “She was determined from the beginning to help save troubled souls from themselves.” She’s also not averse to adding foot massages and deep breathing exercises to her therapy sessions.

The dialogue does strain credibility at times. “We went to a toy store and bought a bouncy ball … it was high-octane fun,” and “You know about Terry. I’ve told you