People Don’t Drown in Living Rooms by Orna Reuven and Yair Eldan

Ella, a psychologist living in Tel Aviv, receives a surprising email from her former patient, Itamar. Itamar’s email marks the beginning of a tumultuous correspondence that traverses the distance from Tel Aviv to New York and explores the boundaries of their relationship. When Itamar reveals he is hiding from authorities and asks Ella for money, the seemingly guarded and level-headed psychologist travels to New York to meet him. As the plot unravels and emotional turmoil sets in, the defined boundaries between psychologist and patient are challenged as both try to bridge the gulf between them, in an attempt to find a common ground of sane understanding.

Written in the form of a modern epistolary novel, the email correspondence between Ella and Itamar, People Don’t Drown in Living Rooms spins the tale of a psychologist and patient caught in an impossible situation, raising the everlasting question about the essence of psychotherapy.

This fictional correspondence was written in two voices; Dr. Yair Eldan, a lecturer on law, wrote the voice of Itamar, and Dr. Orna Reuven, a psychoanalyst and psychology lecturer, wrote the voice of Ella.

“An incredibly profound and emotional reading experience!”
— Dr. Galit Atlas, psychoanalyst, faculty NYU, an essayist and author

“An engrossing, addictive novel of letters, the reading of which is in itself a roller coaster of identifications, and which manages at the same time to touch deeply on the essence of the analytical relationship and to exceed all its rules and boundaries.”
— Prof. Dana Amir, a clinical psychologist, supervising and training analyst, poetess and literature researcher

“This book teaches us more about the intensity of the love-hate dynamics that exist between patient and analyst than any journal article on the subject.”
— Danielle Knafo, professor, psychoanalyst, author