Bookforum talks to Ellen Ullman
Ellen Ullman’s latest novel, By Blood, tells the story of a psychologically unstable academic who while on a forced leave of absence in San Francisco discovers that he can hear a young woman’s therapy sessions through the walls of his office, The professor gradually becomes obsessed with the patient, going so far as to surreptitiously help her uncover disturbing truths about her family history, All of this unfolds against the backdrop of 1970s San Francisco, a world that Ullman depicts through her narrator’s troubled mind as an urban nightmare.
Ellen Ullman’s latest novel, By Blood, is narrated by a psychologically unstable academic who, while on a forced leave of absence in San Francisco, discovers that he can hear a young woman’s therapy sessions through the walls of his office. He gradually becomes obsessed with the patient, going so far as to surreptitiously help her uncover disturbing truths about her family history. All of this unfolds against the backdrop of 1970s San Francisco, a world that Ullman depicts through her narrator’s troubled mind as an urban nightmare. In addition to By Blood, Ullman is the author of Close to the