The Model Patient

A psychological tour-de-force about obsession, control, and the dangerous relationship between a therapist and patient in 1960s London.

Evelyn Westbrook has given up her career as a model and wants to find fulfilment in married life. But when her husband suggests they start trying for a baby, everything begins to unravel. Struggling to cope with crippling nightmares, Evelyn takes the advice of a friend and goes to see a psychotherapist. She is apprehensive about exposing her intimate issues: what she absolutely does not want to do is unearth the secrets of her past. The enigmatic Dr. Daley, however, is determined to take her back there, and she soon finds herself drawn to him. Evelyn’s interest in her therapist turns to obsession, and she becomes locked in a powerful relationship where the question of whether he is caring for her or manipulating her becomes impossible to untangle.

• "Crackling with tension and rife with ingenious plot twists, Ashe’s latest is an exploration of friendship, marriage, and female objectification, set against the backdrop of 1960s London. Nothing is as it seems in this absorbing psychological thriller—and you won’t be able to put it down."
  Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Queen
• "The Model Patient begins as an elegant domestic drama and builds, quietly and inexorably, into a darkly devastating psychological thriller. Lucy Ashe writes with passion, precision, and a rare understanding of how love and fear can blur into each other."
  Brian Platzer, author of The Body Politic
• “Packed with colorful details of the swinging sixties, this twisty psychological exploration of marriage, deception, and desire will keep readers off-balance until the last page. An original and perceptive thriller, The Model Patient is full of deep, dark surprises.”
  Lynda Cohen Loigman, USA Today Bestselling author of The Matchmaker’s Gift and The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern
• "A chilling exploration of physical and psychological boundaries that exposes how the therapeutic relationship can blur the lines of sanity and of who is responsible when everything unravels."
  Nicole Nehrig, clinical and research psychologist and author of With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving their Stories
• "[A] gripping historical psychological thriller. . . . What starts as a story about a woman trapped by societal expectations evolves into a dark exploration of manipulation and desire, building to a conclusion that will keep readers on edge until the end. . . . Ashe excels at immersive world-building. . . . But beneath the atmospheric setting lies a provocative examination of transference and obsession."
  Amita Parikh, international bestselling author of The Circus Train