The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life

Holocaust survivor and therapist Eger (The Choice) encourages readers to break free from self-imposed mental prisons in this engaging work. Eger, drawing on a variety of therapeutic concepts, developed a technique she calls “choice therapy,” which aims to promise freedom from the deleterious effects of personal trauma by choosing each day to recognize that suffering is temporary, to find lessons to be learned in the worst experiences, and to remain curious about the future. She covers 12 common “mental prisons,” including avoidance, rigidity, and the “chronic anger and irritation” of resentment, fear, and hopelessness. For each “prison,” she shares stories from her own life and those of clients to show how focusing on the future and reframing and reconsidering actions can have a powerful impact on one’s happiness and mental health. Some of the examples are so extreme as to seem inapplicable—her own experiences in Auschwitz, a woman surviving two gunshots to the head, a singer developing a vocal tremor and back injury on the cusp of a world tour—but her nonclinical, conversational tone and genuine optimism make her suggestions seem entirely achievable. The range of topics Eger’s methods address and her accomplished writing distinguish this useful guide for improving one’s life. Agent: Doug Abrams, Idea Architects. (Sept.)