An Age of Madness

Psychiatrist Regina Moss comes on strong in this compassionate, imperfect novel of the surprising, halting ways that the heart and mind heal after tragedy. Regina works at a “holding tank for public-sector mentally ill” in a Massachusetts hospital where the afflicted patients’ suffering and symptoms mirror her own troubles, despite her strenuous efforts to keep the effects of personal tragedy at bay through mordant wit and a clinical remove. Regina’s relationship with her college-age daughter is frayed, and the defenses she’s built up allow her to function, if not flourish, years after a terrible personal loss. Two things finally crack Regina open to further waves of grief: her role as dutiful daughter to an ailing father reaches a critical point, and a tenuous, affair with a younger subordinate. In the deftly sketched Regina, Maine has created a touchingly human reminder that scar tissue isn’t always visible, but unwittingly shows how an uneven story can fail to measure up to a well-drawn character. (Sept. 1)