The question of what to do about this inconvenient obsession carries through Faith’s endearing debut novel. Sylvie knows she must respect the boundaries of the therapy room, but feeds her obsession in other ways — adopting her therapist’s style of dress; studying therapy on her work breaks at the vet clinic; staying alert for a chance encounter in the neighborhood dog park. If the therapist only loved her, Sylvie believes all her problems would be solved. “There might be no need to worry about carrying on when somebody else had already worked out the meaning of life,” Sylvie thinks.

What might in another book veer into unsettling territory is kept here in a lighthearted realm that deepens with meaning as we learn more about Sylvie’s reasons for being in therapy and her shy attempts outside those sessions toward a fuller, healthier life. Sylvie makes a new friend; goes on a trip; and searches for ways to feel “like a person” with a “real” and meaningful life. As the book goes on, Sylvie must find out if she has healed enough to release herself from the therapist’s grip.

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