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  • Published: 16 May 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529107357
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $24.99

Tell Me the Truth About Love

13 Tales from Couple Therapy




The Examined Life meets Three Women: stories of real couples on the couch from one of Britain’s most experienced relationship therapists.

'Brilliant and touching' Maggie O'Farrell

'A must-read for everyone wanting to understand more about what makes us fall in - and out - of love' Philippa Perry

'A charming, useful, kind book about the pains and hopes of relationships' Alain de Botton

Drawing on over 30 years of therapeutic encounters with people facing hurdles in their love lives, former Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council Susanna Abse takes us deep inside one of the most fascinating realms there is: other people's relationships.

Candid and captivating, each chapter is inspired by a classic, timeless story. Parents blow their straw house down; Rapunzel yearns for companionship but remains trapped in her castle. Couples strive to navigate the fall from Eden, the bitter taste of the poison apple and strangers in their beds.

From dealing with infidelity to navigating our changing role within a single relationship over the course of a lifetime, Tell Me the Truth About Love sheds vivid light on the human heart, and its struggle to both embrace life's greatest gift and protect itself from pain. Inside, you will find solace, wisdom and unparalleled insight into how, and why, we love.

  • Published: 16 May 2023
  • ISBN: 9781529107357
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 240
  • RRP: $24.99

About the author

Susanna Abse

Susanna Abse is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist who has worked in private practice with couples, individuals and parents since 1991. She is the current chair of The British Psychoanalytic Council and was CEO of the charity Tavistock Relationships from 2006 until 2016. She has also recently been presenting Britain on the Couch for Channel 4 News. She has published widely on couple therapy, parenting, and family policy and how these areas need to be at the heart of progressive welfare provision, a subject on which she lectures and teaches.

Susanna is a Senior Fellow of the Tavistock Institute for Medical Psychology, a fellow of the Centre for Social Policy at Dartington; a previous Leadership Fellow at St George’s House, Windsor Castle, as well as a Member of the Advisory Board of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis. She is also Co-Editor of The Library of Couple and Family Psychoanalysis for Routledge Books. Between 2016-18, she was a member of the University of Birmingham mental health policy commission, “Investing in a Resilient Generation”.

Praise for Tell Me the Truth About Love

'A must-read for everyone wanting to understand more about what makes us fall in - and out - of love'

Philippa Perry

'A charming, useful, kind book about the pains and hopes of relationship'

Alain de Botton

'Powerful, masterful, insightful. With every turn of the page I learnt more about people and their relationships and, ultimately, about myself'

Annalisa Barbieri

'Tell Me the Truth about Love is a compelling and thoughtful book which anyone who is interested in the dynamics of romantic relationships should read. Abse is a psychoanalyst so her approach is reflexive, and the complex learnings that couples make during therapy with her seem to unfold in real time. This is not a book about quick fixes. It is a book that demonstrates that no couple is "able to meet each other's desires completely, but the relationship exists in the trying.'

Suzi Godson

'The inner lives of couples fascinate us. We wonder what goes when we sense trouble and heartache. Susanna Abse shows how therapists turn hurts, and misunderstandings into longed for deeper connections.'

Susie Orbach

'Did you happen to marry a prince or a princess who eventually turned into a frog? For anyone who has ever experienced a spousal disappointment or a marital explosion, this masterpiece by Susanna Abse, written in a compelling style with compassion and warmth and humour, provides us with truly brilliant insights about the complexities of couple psychology. This might be the best book ever about the art and the anguish of human relationships.'

Professor Brett Kahr

'This wonderfully wise book would give anyone reading it insight and inspiration on the importance and complexity of our love relationships. Susanna writes with clarity and warmth in a voice that is steeped in decades of experience and means we trust her. Her gentle humour is also a joy.'

Julia Samuel

Brilliant and touching

Maggie O'Farrell