6/11/2023 0 Comments The silent patient alcestis![]() ![]() Theo takes on Alicia’s case and despite Alicia attacking him keeps the sessions going. As the novel progresses, Theo also starts to recount the breakdown of his marriage and the impacts that this had on him. ![]() After saying he is there to help people he admits that this is “bullshit”, that he became a psychologist because he himself is damaged and it draws him to working with damaged people – “we study psychology to heal ourselves” he says before chronicling his abusive childhood and personal therapy sessions. In his narration he is upfront about his motives. When the book opens, Theo has managed to get a transfer from Broadmoor, where he was working to The Grove, a private institution where Alicia is serving her time. Theo Faber, a psychologist and narrator of this tale is a little obsessed with Alicia’s story and condition and organises himself so that he can treat her. ![]() She has not spoken since the gruesome murder, her only communication being a single self-portrait entitled Alcestis. When The Silent Patient opens, Alicia Berenson is in a psychiatric ward, locked away for killing her husband. She was eventually restored to life but following this she never spoke again. In particular the story of Alcestis who volunteered to die in place of her husband and was sent to Hades. Alex Michalides’ debut thriller The Silent Patient takes some of its cues from Greek mythology. ![]()
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