Bluebird published

Andrew Cooper’s posthumous memoir, Bluebird, has now been published – making it the first book to be released as part of the new Tavistock Lives series.

The first in a new series of books exploring the lives of people who have trained or worked at the Tavistock has now been published.

Bluebird is a posthumous memoir by Professor Andrew Cooper, who worked at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust for many years as a Professor of Social Work and Psychotherapist.   

Exploring death, dying and the impact of life-threatening illness, the book raises profound questions about the omnipresence of death in life. It traces connections between early experience and later physical and mental pain, and between personal fears about death and dying and the wider societal forces that shape our responses to them. It is also a rich exploration of the life-enhancing potential of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which Andrew credits with saving his life.

Bluebird has been warmly received by reviewers, including an endorsement from Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychotherapist and Child Psychoanalyst, Margaret Rustin, who praised the author’s ability to interweave the personal and collective:

“This is an intensely personal book about the meaning of death within life and the impact of life-threatening illness on a man’s relationships to himself and others. It draws on Andrew’s memories from early childhood onwards and on his inner life as he came to understand it through life experience, personal therapy, and attention to his dreams. It is also a powerful exploration of our society’s relationship to illness, loss, the end of life, and death. This conjunction of the most intimate with the communal is rare and gives this book its unusual focus and depth, its capacity to disturb and to illuminate.”

The book is available to purchase directly from Karnac and a range of booksellers.

Tavistock Lives

Published by Karnac, Tavistock Lives is a new book series focusing on the lives of those who have trained or worked at the Tavistock. Encompassing memoir, biography and autobiography, the series will explore how its subjects’ professional lives in the field of mental health have been shaped by, and have influenced, their personal narratives.

It is the latest book series to showcase the work and people of the Tavistock, joining Routledge’s long-running Tavistock Clinic Series, which now numbers over 60 titles.