An unusual book and one I really rather enjoyed, in no small measure for its difference from any other women's fiction/romance book I've read recently.

 

Dora is obsessed with books and uses them to both hide from and try to make sense of her rapidly disintegrating life. I found it hard to get into the book and the character at first, partly due to the sheer numbers of literary allusions in the beginning - but something sparky in the story kept me going and I'm very glad I did.

 

After a while, I warmed to Dora and was very glad when things began (slowly!) to turn round for her. Her relationship with her ex, Palmer, is absolutely charming, and I loved him. In the course of the novel, Dora grows and begins to deal with friends and family more effectively, and I was really rooting for her by the time the story ended. The ending is almost perfect, although - being me! - I would have preferred a wee bit more emotion in those closing pages but, on the other hand, the subtlety works very well.

 

So good stuff and a book I recommend.

Out of work and no where to go, Minna had no other recourse but to ask her sister to take her in.

Minna knew the household wouldn't be calm with six children and a household staff​, but she managed.  In fact, she managed very well.  The children fell in love with her and so did her brother-in-law.  Or did he really fall in love with her or was she simply a convenience?​
                   
Sigmund Freud ​betrayed ​​his wife, ​and Minna betrayed her sister.  The affair started out with ​early evening and some ​late night meetings that included flirting and drugs.  Did his wife know about the affair or was she too addicted to opium to even notice?

You will definitely dislike Sigmund Freud as a person and question his thinking about why people develop psychological disorders. He was arrogant, a smooth operator, apparently quite good looking,​ and he used his field of study to his advantage. He was not a kind man especially to women, but he knew how to seduce Minna.  He had no regard for his wife who had six children with him.

Minna, “the mistress," was actually likable because even though she knew she couldn't stop herself about wanting to be with Freud, she did feel guilty. ​ It was funny to be reminded that women of that era were so set on only finding a husband and no career per say except as domestic help, a companion for another woman, or caring for children.

FREUD’S MISTRESS was enjoyable and very well written. The book flowed nicely, and you could actually visualize everything and feel the characters' emotions and moods because of Ms. Mack’s and Ms. Kaufman’s marvelous writing skills.​
                
Some of the characters and some of the situations were comical. Love, infidelity, history, comedy, Freud's theories, ​and social issues were the main themes.​
    
It is always interesting to​ look into the life of a famous person especially during the 1800's. ​If you like historical fiction, you should enjoy FREUD'S MISTRESS.  4/5

The ending notes from the authors that contained information about Sigmund Freud's life was quite interesting and helpful.

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.​

There has been a slew of historical 'speculative' fiction (my term for such books) such as The Chaperone, Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker, Hemingway's Girl and now Freud's Mistress.

I just find it very convenient that the story writes itself out while the author speculates and fill in the gaps since they are invariably based primarily on actual people/characters/situation but that little gap for imagination. And it does come across as being lazy as well.

One (the author/s) knows the beginning, the middle and the ending so let's just weave in bits and pieces over the parts that no one will really know.

Feels like a cop out to me and however artful the writer/writers might be, it just feels formulaic, without the rigours of historical non-fiction or the imagination of quality historical fiction either.

A melding of fact and fiction of the affair between Sigmund Freud and Minna Bernays, this is a tragedy of rather twisted love story, and an even greater tragedy of filial love. Those fascinated with Freud will enjoy a peek into this lesser-known side; those who enjoy historical fiction will enjoy the depiction of Vienna at the turn of the century. Those who dislike sordid affairs in all its sordid glory may not find this very appealing.

Read my full review on Guiltless Reading

I'm all over the place with this book: I liked some aspects of it and disliked others and I really don't know where to settle in the end.Opening in 1895, the novel follows Minna Bernays, sister to Sigmund Freud's wife Martha. Minna is pretty, clever, and unwilling to settle into marriage for convenience or comfort. As a result, she's relegated to life as a domestic for upper class Austrian families, a job she routinely loses. Minna would prefer to drink gin and smoke cigarettes in her bedroom, reading her time away, and engage in sharp conversation on arts and science, but when jobless, penniless, and homeless, she goes to her sister Martha. Martha, once the family beauty, is now a mother of six wild children, wife to brilliant but controversial Sigmund Freud. Exhausted, addicted to opiates, Martha no longer entrances Sigi, as he's nicknamed, and Minna immediately fascinates. Minna is as enraptured, and eventually the two become lovers.Historically, we know Minna lives with the Freuds for over forty years, and recently it's been discovered that Minna and Sigmund checked into a hotel together as a married couple. Much of Mack's and Kaufman's novel, however, is conjecture, and the resulting book was, for me, frustrating.I'm not always wild about biographical historical fiction, especially when the figure is question is 'famous' for being the sexual partner of someone more famous. The reasons for entering into an illicit sexual relationship can be fascinating material for a novel, however, and I was very curious about how Mack and Kaufman would articulate Minna's and Martha's relationship. (That to me was far more interesting to me than just how hot Minna found Sigi to be!) Sadly, the predominant arc of this novel is on the first few liaisons between Minna and Sigmund with a six page Afterward that only lightly touches upon Martha's cognizance of the affair. The first third of the novel leads up to the sex, and the rest details their liaisons, Minna's alternating guilt and happiness, and instances of Sigmund being a total jerk. I was disappointed the relationship with Minna and Martha wasn't explored more; there's a brief hint offered that Martha not only knew, but understood and even expected Freud's lovers to take up certain tasks to keep him happy (and out of her hair).The writing style is fine; despite the poetic and dramatic opening line -- The season for suicides had begun. -- the narrative is straight-forward and reads fast. Scenes where a demonstration of intelligence or wit were needed were summed up with a single sentence ("...Minna said, going on to discuss the disastrous ramifications of imperial support of Lueger, especially for the Jews.", p72) which felt a bit like a cop out. The narrative is peppered with historical tidbits that were fascinating -- the easy use of opiates and coca (cocaine) was amazing/horrifying -- and there's a sense of what the woman's sphere was like, from clothes to household details.So, I can't easily say if I liked or disliked this one. I don't mind unlikable or irredeemable characters, but neither Minna nor Sigmund were truly ugly, awful, or horrible enough to be fun. They're merely selfish. I can't condemn the novel for not following a plot line I would have preferred, however. I think fans of 'popular'/women's historical fiction will like this one -- it reminded me of Sarah Jio and Christina Baker Kline (without the contemporary parallel story line) and contemporary writers like Patti Callahan Henry.