The stories we tell about ourselves may not be true, but they are all we have. We all tell stories – writers for themselves, we for others, together with a therapist, to unravel the puzzle of our biography. We are surrounded by stories and weave them continuously. But is there any truth behind the variations, attempts, projections? J. M. Coetzee explores these questions in his exchange and correspondence with the psychotherapist Arabella Kurtz. Drawing on his own work, with excursions to Dostoevsky and Cervantes as well as reflections on his own life, they discuss answers within the framework established by Sigmund Freud and Melanie Klein. Coetzee's style is, as always, compelling and focused. Kurtz brings psychoanalytic concepts and practice to life with a rare precision.