Love's Labor

“This is a beautiful book.”—Nigella Lawson

“A profound meditation on love and healing. . . . powerful and important. . . . essential reading.”—Tara Westover, author of Educated

“A compressed, brilliant distillation of forty years of clinical experience and deep thought, written to last. Grosz conveys what he knows, in all its richness, in as pithy and digestible form as possible.”—Financial Times

“What Love’s Labor offers, just as The Examined Life did, is a quality of comprehension of what it means to be human, with all the contrasting feelings that obtain. Perhaps because Grosz has chosen to focus on love, his second book carries more of a depth charge, sending out fragments of insight and self-revelation that link the reader to him. It’s a surpassingly wise investigation of the ways in which we trip ourselves up in the pursuit of our heart’s desires. . . . Grosz’s warmth, humility, and seemingly effortless capacity for connection waft off the pages of his books and engulf the reader.”—The New York Times

“A fascinating examination of this process [of psychoanalysis] in action . . . Grosz is a captivating writer whose understated vignettes often capture the complexities of the human condition”―New Scientist

“Chilling, moving, unforgettable . . . what a privilege it is for the reader to catch a glimpse of this process.”―The Guardian

“Love’s Labor is a hopeful book and all the more convincingly so because it promises relatively small shifts rather than miraculous recoveries”―The Times

“Love really is a labor: that’s that’s something they don’t tell you in the fairy stories or the reality shows. But Stephen Grosz knows a lot about the pain and joy of human relationships, and in this book he generously shares his wisdom with the rest of us.”—Zadie Smith, author of The Fraud

“This is a special book, full of little epiphanies. It’s a love story about the relationship between lovers, between a therapist and patient, and between us all, if we are brave enough.”—Natasha Lunn, author of Conversations on Love

“Grosz’s transfixing stories will increase your openness to and aptitude for the greatest of all emotions;: you will be better at love after you read this book.”—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree

“Full of moments of revelation that stay with you forever . . . It would not be humanly possible for me to recommend his work more highly.”―India Knight, author of My Life on a Plate

“Reading Stephen Grosz is a deep sort of pleasure, and this book’s movingly told true stories left me feeling wiser and more open to life.”―Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks

“Stephen Grosz is a beautiful writer;, a clear, compelling thinker;, an observant, wise, and deeply empathetic human being.”—Nick Hornby, author of Fever Pitch