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The State of Disbelief

A Story of Death, Love and Forgetting

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The State of Disbelief

By: Juliet Rosenfeld
Narrated by: Helen Keeley
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About this listen

A revelatory book about death and mourning by a psychotherapist faced with sudden bereavement.

When Juliet Rosenfeld’s husband dies of lung cancer only seven months into their marriage, everything she has learnt about death as a psychotherapist is turned on its head.

As she attempts to navigate her way through her own devastating experience of loss, Rosenfeld turns to her battered copy of Freud’s seminal essay 'Mourning and Melancholia'. Inspired by the distinction Freud draws between the savage trauma of loss that occurs at the moment of death - grief - and the longer, unpredictable evolution of that loss into something that we call mourning, Rosenfeld finds herself dramatically rethinking the commonly held therapeutic idea of 'working through stages of grief'.

This is a beautifully written meditation on what the investment of love means and how to find your own path after bereavement in order for life to continue.

©2020 Juliet Rosenfeld (P)2020 Octopus Publishing Group Grief & Loss Personal Development Marriage Grief

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Critic reviews

"A beautifully written, profoundly moving and immersive account of grief that will bring solace." (Louise France, The Times)
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I worked for Andrew Rosenfeld for 3 years as his Executive Assistant. It felt slightly wrong listening to this very personal account. I knew Andrew before he met Juliet and he was probably the most ‘alive’ person I have ever known - that’s not easy to explain I admire her openness in this book - it sounds very like him. I truly understand his demand that she become complicit in his own denial of what was actually happening. Devastating. For all of Andrew’s family. Those before Juliet. The children and, his friends. I was devastated. He had a few incredibly close male friends and I liked the majority of them. He really was an incredible person. This is compelling and I am so pleased I plucked up the courage to read.

Honest and painful

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I bought this book after happening upon an article about it in a magazine. I bought it because a single line in the article was exactly how my own grief felt, but for 4 years, and until the moment I read that line, I believed I was the only person who felt that way following the death of a loved one.
The book is quiet simply brilliant, and the narrator brings it to life with her beautiful voice.
Juliet, details her husbands sickness, death and aftermath with incredible detail.
I can not recommend enough

This book holds you tight in its grip

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