Sympathy — Dede Crane

When a car accident claims the lives of her husband and son, Kerry Taylor, a former ballet dancer, slips into a catatonic state. Her family's last option is the Rosewood Clinic, where Dr. Michael Myatt has launched a controversial new therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder victims in the wake of 9/11. Framed around the seven distinct phases of Myatt's radical “sympathy-based” therapy, in which the doctor tries to take on the actual physical feelings of the patient, the book explores the permeable boundaries between self and others. A colorful supporting cast of five lost souls adds poignancy and earthy humor to the story of Kerry's gradual return to consciousness and long-suppressed grief. This powerful first novel examines the relationship between mind, body, and spirit, and sets Kerry's recovery against a larger backdrop: the healing of damaged minds during a time of political and social upheaval.