Quiet Room Reviews
Quiet Room, the first book of Joseph Covais’s trilogy Psychotherapy with Ghosts, introduces two unlikely lovers: Almira, who died in 1841, and David, the former therapist who purchases her ancestral home in 1970. Alternating chapters tell their echoing stories as David helps the ghost process her history and deals with his own. Covais well captures the voice, the perspective, and the ethos of each character, with carefully researched yet completely natural details that vividly evoke their two very different time periods. Part ghost story, part mystery, Quiet Room is a riveting tale and a very auspicious debut for this author and the series.
Elizabeth Inness-Brown,
author of Burning Marguerite
(Knopf, 2001)
The premise is fascinating – and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.
I love the characters Joe has drawn- even when some of them are not particularly “likeable.”. A good balance of the then and the now- and keeping track of the characters in each time is very easy.
The specific descriptions of the city of Albany are spot on- and I look forward to seeing more there, too.
Will this be done in 2 books, or 3? I have read some other series done in such a fashion, and am always ready for the next one to be published! I am already committed to however many are in this series!
Thanks so much for allowing me a peek into this creative piece – quite wonderful!
Margaret King
Retired school teacher of 32 years.
Volunteer Alumna Archivist at the Albany Academy for Girls
Joseph Covais “Quiet Room- Psychotherapy with Ghosts”
Joseph Covais’ first installment of his three-part series, Quiet Room- Psychotherapy with Ghosts, is a beautifully descriptive, enthralling juxtaposition of the lives of two characters who struggle with a similar sense of love, grief, and loss, despite being over one hundred years apart in time. Their parallel lives collide when David, a twentieth-century psychotherapist, purchases an old farmhouse, the former residence of Almira, a well-to-do woman coming of age in the early nineteenth century, who appears as an apparition in the night time in an upstairs bedroom, known as the quiet room. Grappling to unravel the intricacies of his own trauma and current love affair, David gains the trust of Almira and begins to hold therapy sessions with her, where she reveals her own tale of forbidden love and regretful mourning. The first installment leaves the reader wondering if David is having a cognitive encounter with a spirit or if he is unknowingly processing the feelings of his own suffering?
Rachel Wetzel
Photograph Conservator,
Library of Congress
The Quiet Room: Psychotherapy With Ghosts
By Joseph S Covais
The Quiet Room is book one of three books that introduces David Weiss, who recently left his career as a Psychotherapist. In leaving the city, he also puts distance in his relationship with Angela. His escape is in a lovely 1830 Greek revival home in the country. Imagine his surprise when David finds his new home not only comes with many mid-19th century furnishings and accessory items but a beautiful 19-year-old ghost named Almira Hamilton. The most surprising part is that he and Almira can actually communicate on a very real level. The author takes us back to 1838 in alternating chapters to learn about how this young lady lived, inside of this very home.
I truly feel that I am transported back to this time of loss and love, of the importance of faith and of losing it. I enjoyed reading the details of dress and mannerisms of the Victorian period, with visual references. The author's knowledge of this time brings to life for the reader, especially the details of canal boat travel in 1840. His life and travel in the 1970 era are quite a contrast. I look forward to the continuing story of David as he continues his therapy with Almira and his actual life with Angela.
Beth Turza
Historic Costume Instructor and
member of the Historical Novel Society