What have I been reading? The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova
No spoilers. I loved this book. Every bit of it. It is a story which looks at mental illness in a very compassionate , inventive, interesting way. You get to see it from the point of view of everyone. It isn’t just about the psychiatrist treating mental illness. It is not clinical. It looks at relationships and how they emerge and develop and how mental illness impacts the person concerned and the people with whom they are involved. It becomes a puzzle and mystery story which makes for compelling reading because of the fine character development and then the attention to detail. Observations and hypotheses are made so that you become interactive in looking at the world of mental illness. I became involved in the story because there was a naturalness and reality about it but I also enjoyed how the book explored art, artists and the impact of art on people’s lives. It was a good book to be reading in winter. One I could just get lost in.