A hypnotherapist's new boyfriend admits his ex-girlfriend has been stalking him for years, and she is more intrigued than alarmed
Love with a third party
Ellen O'Farrell is a hypnotherapist in Sydney who helps people quit smoking, manage pain and face their fears. After a string of failed relationships, she has finally met Patrick, a kind, handsome widower with a young son. On their fourth date, he confesses something: for three years his former girlfriend, Saskia, has been following him. Ellen is surprisingly fascinated. What she does not know is that she has already met Saskia.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who enjoy Moriarty's mix of warm comedy and darker undercurrents, and stories about the complications of modern love.
What you will get
A sharp, funny and surprisingly compassionate novel about a hypnotherapist, her new boyfriend and the ex who will not let him go.
The Hypnotist's Love Story Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Literary Fiction · Hypnotherapy · Stalking · Relationships
Length
466 pages · ≈ 14 h
More about this book
What makes this novel unusual is its sympathy for everyone involved. Chapters from Ellen's point of view, cheerful, curious and a little over-analytical, alternate with chapters from Saskia's, and we gradually understand the grief and loneliness behind her obsession. Saskia is not a cartoon villain but a woman whose life fell apart, and Moriarty makes her painfully human, even as her behaviour becomes more troubling.
Ellen's own story is full of comedy and insight: her professional habit of analysing everyone, including herself, her worries about competing with Patrick's late wife, and her doubts about whether she is ready for a ready-made family. The insights into hypnotherapy are interesting and gently funny. The novel builds to a tense climax and resolves with warmth, though some readers wish the stalking had been taken more seriously.
It is an engaging, character-driven read and an interesting bridge between Moriarty's early comedies and her later suspense novels. Patrick's young son Jack, bright and wary, adds both humour and stakes to the story, and Ellen's attempts to win him over are touching and often funny. About 466 pages in the Berkley paperback.
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