The Delivery Room by Sylvia Brownrigg
Anger, grief, boredom, frustration, resentment. Mira, an experienced therapist, has seen and heard it all before; nothing can shock or faze her and, although she works from home, the line between the personal and the professional is, for her, a boundary not to be crossed. Occasionally, the thin walls allow her husband's cough or a clatter of shoes to penetrate - or perhaps a client touches a nerve - but Mira is practised at politely sidestepping any attempts to draw her in (or out). Once the last client closes the door behind them, however, Mira too has her share of concerns and dilemmas demanding acknowledgement, attention and (re)solution. But as she navigates the central relationships in her life - with her husband, and the son he didn't know about for years, with her war-ravaged homeland, and the sister who lives there still, with her various clients - she finds it's not always easy to keep home and work separate.
Written in tight, precise prose, The Delivery Room is Mira's story - the story of the people and places in her life and the delicate, precarious balance between them.