Book Review - Freud's Mistress

Freud’s Mistress

By: Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman
Publisher: The Berkeley Publishing Group
Publication Date: July 2013
ISBN: 978-0-399-16307-4
Reviewed by: Diane Lunsford
Review Date: July 2014

Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman have teamed up and produced an intriguing story of the infidelities of Sigmund Freud with (of all people) his little known sister-in-law, Minna Bernays.

Minna Bernays’ life was steadily unraveling. She is unwilling to accept her mundane role of companion to the soulless baroness and governess to her young Flora. Unfortunately, Minna wasn’t the only one dissatisfied with the arrangement. Finding herself dismissed with nowhere to go meant it was time to think about doing something more with her life. But what? She had no money to speak of or many options of where to go. Her father was dead. Her brother lived an ocean and continent away. The mere thought of reaching out to her estranged mother wasn’t worth the fleeting thought she gave the notion. There is one person she has left, however; her sister. Martha was thrilled to have Minna come. Soon, however, Minna would learn the price she would have to pay along with the expectations attached to the ‘invitation’ to stay for a while. Martha had her own set of challenges raising six children ranging from infancy to eight years of age. Her husband was absent most of the time and when he was home, he was often too consumed with his work to engage in familial duties. Indeed, it is a Godsend to have Minna’s help. It’s important to note, however, Martha’s husband isn’t just anyone. Rather, he is the great ‘thinker,’ Sigmund Freud.

The Freud family lived in the Ninth District of Vienna, Berggasse 19. When the coachman pulls up in front of her sister’s home, Minna pauses momentarily and calms the myriad of emotions swirling in her mind. How was it Martha’s life seemed so together; yet Minna continued to struggle with finding her way? Once settled, dinner is served and at Martha’s insistence, Minna must sit next to Sigmund. Back and forth banter of their reunion commences and Minna is reminded of her first meeting of this man—long ago when she was engaged to her beloved (and long dead) fiancé, Ignaz. Sigmund was courting Martha at the time. How was it that such intensity can be awakened with nothing more than his presence next to her? For the first time in many years, Minna feels alive. What she doesn’t realize is the price she must pay in order to maintain a life with some sort of happiness attached to it.

Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman deserve an ample dose of ‘bravo’ in their delivery of Freud’s Mistress. Before reading this work of ‘fiction,’ I must confess the scope of my knowledge of Sigmund Freud was his rivalry with Carl Jung! This dynamic duo has written a quintessentially intriguing novel. They detail the complexities of sibling rivalries subliminally throughout and zero in on the target of the coveted prize of the sought after husband—the woman who has him cannot stand him; the woman who wants him, cannot ever have him...completely. There is an abundance of Vienna scenery depicted in both summer and winter ranging from gloriously sunny summer days to withering and dismally grey winter months. The essence of capturing the scenery through precise word placement had this reader living in the moment on many occasions. Without imparting too much of a spoiler, the egregious injustice Minna experienced left me conflicted at best. On one hand, I struggled with the notion that this woman even considered a tawdry affair with her sister’s husband of all people. On the other hand, however, both Mack and Kaufman created the nuance of the cerebral cad Freud could often be to satisfy his own desires. There is heartache and there is hope. Throughout this story, however, there is self-righteous dignity to want (and have) individual happiness. Superb job Ms. Mack and Ms. Kaufman! I look forward to your next book.

Quill says: Freud’s Mistress is a bittersweet and engaging read about the life and times of the most complex ‘thinker’ of all time. It is a difficult story to put down until the last page has been read.

Books in for Review

Here's a sneak peak at some of the books that have just arrived for review!  Reviews will be posted in a few weeks.



Tenebrae Manor by P. S. Clinen Within uncharted forest, where ancient magic keeps the night sky ever-present, stands Tenebrae Manor. Within its dusky walls dwell beings of macabre whimsy, headed by the pedant demon, Bordeaux, and the hedonistic gorgon, Lady Libra. These apparitions are content to live out their eternity in the half-lit gloom; that is until the arrival of a certain uninvited guest – a live human being – imperils the concealment of Tenebrae Manor and the livelihood of its residents. And in the forest surrounding a new threat emerges – a threat that is rattling the once still trees, and dooming the manor towards irreparable decay. But the characters are unmoored. While some seem desperate to maintain ascendancy over their ruinous home, others adopt a façade of mischievous indifference that could undo them all. And is Tenebrae Manor even worth saving? After all, eternity is a frightfully long time to spend alone...  

Pride, Prejudice and Cheese Grits (Jane Austen Takes the South) by Mary Jane Hathaway Shelby Roswell, a Civil War historian and professor, is on the fast track to tenure—that is, until her new book is roasted by the famous historian Ransom Fielding in a national review. With her career stalled by a man she’s never met, Shelby struggles to maintain her composure when she discovers that Fielding has taken a visiting professorship at her small Southern college. Ransom Fielding is still struggling with his role in his wife’s accidental death six years ago and is hoping that a year at Shelby’s small college near his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, will be a respite from the pressures of Ivy League academia. He never bargained for falling in love with the one woman whose career—and pride—he injured, and who would do anything to make him leave. When these two hot-headed southerners find themselves fighting over the centuries-old history of local battles and antebellum mansions, their small college is about to become a battlefield of Civil War proportions.  

Freud's Mistress by Karen Mack In fin-de-siècle Vienna, it was not easy for a woman to find fulfillment both intellectually and sexually. But many believe that Minna Bernays was able to find both with one man—her brother-in-law, Sigmund Freud. At once a portrait of two sisters—the rebellious, independent Minna and her inhibited sister, Martha—and of the compelling and controversial doctor who would be revered as one of the twentieth century’s greatest thinkers, Freud’s Mistress is a novel rich with passion and historical detail.

Recognition by O.H. Bennett Dana, a single-mother, is driving home one rainy evening when, as she passes a homeless panhandler, she recognizes the features of her long-absent husband. Warren Reynolds disappeared from Dana's life a decade earlier — his body mysteriously missing after a terrible auto accident from which a pregnant Dana was rescued. After glimpsing the man she believes might be her husband, Dana begins surreptitiously searching for him, and is plunged back into memories of the difficulties they were grappling with at the time of Warren's disappearance. She struggles with whether she can reveal her belief that her husband might be alive to her friends, her in-laws, and, most importantly, her son.