""How is it possible to have spent my entire life without thinking a single minute for myself? How could I have dedicated every moment to the fulfillment of someone else's work - and life - to the detriment of mine? Why did I accept being upstaged, first by my own sister and later by my daughter?"" "These are the gnawing questions Martha Freud struggles to answer when an American journalist engages her in a long correspondence at the end of her life, many years after the death of her famous husband, Sigmund. In Nicolle Rosen's epistolary novel, a fully developed portrait of Martha Freud emerges for the first time, opening a window onto the Freuds' family life over the course of more than half a century. There are the six children with their respective needs and wants, along with the various members of the extended family, including Sigmund's mother, Martha's mother, and Martha's sister, Mina, who arrived one day in the Freud household and stayed for the rest of her life. All in all, a very special group in a dangerous and demanding time." "How and why could Martha have agreed to remain in the background, mainly in the service of her husband? asks Nicolle Rosen. Convinced there had to be more substance to her, the author devoted years to researching the Freud archives, documents, and letters. Contrary to the accepted biographical portraits of Martha, the author discovered an extremely educated woman with a large sense of humor."--BOOK JACKET.