The Model Patient

In her late twenties, Evelyn left the glamorous world of modeling to marry charming and wealthy Henry, who encouraged her to settle into the good life, Sunday dinners with his family, holidays with the whole Westbrook clan. But now it’s the mid-sixties, London is swinging, and the set-up isn’t working for her—the pressure to get pregnant, Henry’s parents’ constant interference, and the isolation—and horrible dreams begin to plague Evelyn. At the suggestion of a former colleague, she secretly begins psychoanalysis with Dr. Patrick Daley. As the abuse that she suffered at the hands of a family friend while a teen is revealed, sessions with Dr. Daley become increasingly confusing—he seems to be encouraging her to love him, but gives nothing in return. Her best friend, Diana, tries to stabilize and support Evie, but gets pulled into a swirl of allegations that she is not sure she can trust. And someone is trying to make Evie believe that she is a bad, bad person. Ashe’s tight, smart thriller touches on women’s right to birth control, societal pressures to conform, and the changing mores of the modern world against the backdrop of The Beatles and Carnaby Street.—Dodie Ownes