Psychotherapist-Turned-Author’s Debut Novel Explores a Woman’s Trauma

As a longtime psychotherapist, Susan Friedman has plenty of experience helping people try to overcome trauma.

In her debut novel, Friedman uses some of that expertise to weave a different type of story.

“Klara’s Truth,” which was released in June, is the story of a woman, Dr. Klara Lieberman, who receives a call from her estranged mother that the Polish government is providing the families and descendants of those who had their property seized by the Nazis during World War II with reparations. Her mother asks that her daughter travel to Poland to see if there is money to be gained.

While Klara’s mother, named Bessie, is interested in any money that might be coming the family’s way, Klara wants to know the real story why her father disappeared.

“It’s very much about her kind of finding, literally finding, her own truth and the uncovering of secrets,” said Friedman, a Chappaqua resident. “And then as a therapist, but just also as a human being, when there is trauma, often healing has to happen without apology from the other person or without reparations. But I felt like I really wanted to make it more of a full healing and that’s how it came about.”

Set mostly in Warsaw and Krakow, Friedman doesn’t classify it as historical fiction, although some have referred to it that way.

Friedman began writing the story about 10 years ago, when she still had a full-time practice, and without prior experience of trying to create a novel, it took her nearly a decade to complete.

“What prompted me was, I was starting to do some journaling on my own and then some of the stories turned into short stories and one of the stories became this story that ultimately became ‘Klara’s Truth,’” Friedman recounted.

She had it published through She Writes Press, a form of hybrid publishing service for women authors that falls somewhere between self-publishing and a more traditional publishing outfit. The advantage of She Writes Press, which takes 50 authors at a time, is the writers have the opportunity to reach out and bounce ideas off one another.

Also, the parent company of She Writes Press is also SparkPoint, which now has an arrangement with Simon & Schuster to help with distribution.

Friedman said there is no doubt that her professional experience influenced her writing.

“I think, therefore, because of that, there’s a very psychological aspect, not just to the book but on fairly deep level in terms of understanding and wanting other people to understand what this main protagonist was going through,” she explained. “So, she has early childhood trauma and, therefore, she never got support through family, friends, therapy. Although she has done very well professionally, she is pretty cut off from herself and others.”

But as the story progresses, Klara becomes a more connected person to herself and others and experiences healing, including recalling good experiences with her father, although he left when she was very young.

Friedman hopes that readers understand the effects of trauma on people and what they could be going through.

“All kinds of trauma, and in particular childhood trauma, really have lifelong effects, particularly without intervention,” Friedman said.

Now that summer has ended, Friedman will be engaged in several talks and appearances in the upcoming months locally at libraries and bookstores as well as a book festival in Brooklyn. She will be having events at the Chappaqua and Scarsdale libraries in December. She already appeared at Scattered Books in Chappaqua.

Chances are this may not be a one-and-done effort for Friedman. One of the challenges is that she had enough material to have a prequel and foresees “Klara’s Truth” as a series.

The book is available at many local bookstores and on Amazon.com.