"`Most accounts of a patient's experience in analysis are autobiographical and, therefore, highly selective for good and bad. Finally, here is a level-headed account from sensitive interviews that explore patients' experiences on the couch. This is a beautiful report of a qualitative study, conducted with great respect and compassion, which moves the field forward by presenting this unique process through patients' narratives rather than via the sometimes rose-tinted spectacles of the clinician. We should be indebted to Hill for the clarity and integrity of her representation and to the patients for the sometimes painfully honest and fascinating accounts of what they encountered along the analytic journey. This is a remarkable opportunity for all clinicians to take a look at themselves at work. It should be compulsory reading for all those in training and for all those who practise psychoanalytic therapy.' Peter Fonagy, PhD, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, Head of Research Department, UCL, London; Chief Executive, the Anna Freud Centre, London.