The Early Years of Life

'This book provides a powerfully argued and beautifully constructed account of the early development of the child in the family context from a psychoanalytic perspective. It draws particularly on the theoretical trajectory from Freud to Klein and Bion. It is written in a clear, accessible and jargon-free style and it is evident that the author wishes to reach and interest a wide audience of parents and others involved in the upbringing of children in the broadest sense. The growth of the child's mind is the story she wants to tell. The wealth of detailed examples drawn from the systematic observation of babies and young children, from more everyday observation of children's behaviour in family and social contexts and from a range of clinical interventions draws the reader into a vivid understanding of the author's conceptual framework and provides many memorable vignettes of children's lives.The method of presentation, in which the descriptive material is followed by an interpretation of its psychological and developmental significance, offers the opportunity to immerse oneself in an account of the detailed play and interactions of a child with parents or therapist or other children and then to draw back and think about the complex processes one has been privileged to observe'.- Margaret Rustin, from the Preface