Good Morning, Monster

"Brilliant piece of work, both heart-rending and chilling. I was moved to tears . . . a great book for any time. The greatest value is the skill of the storyteller and the insights into her own incredible contribution to the outcome of these extraordinary people. I had promised myself that I would read one episode for each of five days. Instead I read right through from beginning to end."—Valery Hemingway, author of Running With the Bulls

“Gildiner’s subject is heroism—writ large and with poignant specificity in five unforgettable patients’ lives. Good Morning, Monster will bolster your faith in human endurance, and make you root more fiercely for us all."—Paula McLain, author of Love and Ruin and The Paris Wife

"Good Morning, Monster allows one the privilege of seeing the therapist-patient relationship as an essentially human interaction."—JM Coetzee, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

"Heartbreaking, surprising, inspiring, and profound, this is ultimately a book about the power of connection and the triumph of the human spirit."—Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and our Lives Revealed

“Like Oliver Sacks, Catherine Gildiner loves her patients . . . Gildiner is a master of shoot-from-the-hip nonfiction—funny, direct and honest about what she sees in others and what she sees in herself.”—Susan Swan, author of The Wives of Bath

“This is a compelling and compressed journey through years of psychotherapy for each of these five people, with crystalline moments of connection and meaning . . . Gildiner is astute, active, pragmatic, and hopeful. She is also very funny. Her wit and her wisdom are gifts shared with these five people—and now with all of us readers."—David S. Goldbloom, co-author of How Can I Help?: A week in My Life as a Psychiatrist

“Compelling, heart-in-throat stories prove no one is ‘damaged goods.’ I’m in awe of the five patients and of Gildiner’s exceptional creativity as she guides each one toward emotional freedom.”—Rona Maynard, author of My Mother’s Daughter

"Affecting . . . Insightful psychological lessons of special interest to readers on therapeutic journeys of their own."—Kirkus Reviews

"Clinical psychologist, Gildiner, shares heart-wrenching stories . . . [that] inspire awe for the ways people who suffered horrific abuse were able to find a measure of recovery."—Publisher's Weekly