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.

The growth of the child's mind is the story she tells. The wealth of detailed examples drawn from the systematic observation of babies and young children, from more everyday observation of children's behavior in family and social contexts and from a range of clinical interventions draws the reader into a vivid understanding of the...