The
Education of Mrs. Bemis: A Novel by John Sedgwick is a good old-fashion
mystery. Like Sedgwick’s previous novel, Dark
House, it has everything – murder, sex, illegitimacy, and insanity among
the Boston Brahmin class.

The
Education of Mrs. Bemis: A Novel by John Sedgwick is set in modern Boston
with copious flashbacks to an earlier and more elegant era. While shopping at
Filene’s Department Store, Alice Matthews, a young psychiatrist, discovers an
elegantly dressed woman sleeping on a bed in Bed and Bath Department. Alice
determines that the woman appears to be physical okay but very disoriented. An
ambulance is called, and the woman is sent to Boston City Hospital for a
medical and psychiatric evaluation. At Boston Hospital it is ascertained that
the woman is Mrs. Madeline Bemis, a 76-year old wealthy widow and society
matron. Dr. Gerald Faulkes, the emergency room physician, concludes that Mrs.
Bemis is physically healthy, but that her refusal to talk suggests some mental
imbalance and warrants further evaluation and treatment. After consulting with
Dr. Faulkes, Alice Matthews has Mrs. Bemis sent to the once exclusive Montrose
Psychiatric Hospital where she works. Alice is intrigued by Mrs. Bemis and her
persistent silence and decides that she wants to be the one to release her from
her prison of silence. After much wrangling with her superiors over treatment methods,
Alice wins the honor of handling Mrs. Bemis case. While Alice works hard to
break Mrs. Bemis silence, Madeline Bemis is hard at work reviewing her life
story. In a flashback, Mrs. Bemis returns to the 1940s and her youthful self as
“Maddy.” She has been called home from boarding school to see her college-aged
second cousin off to war. At first Maddy is confused by her parent’s request to
come home, but when her cousin asks for a lock of her hair and for her to wait
for him, she begins to understand her parents’ logic. Bemis is rich, handsome,
and has a bright future ahead of him in his father’s firm. In short, he is
every girl’s dream and every parent’s hope for a daughter’s future husband.
After a rushed first kiss at the train station, Bemis boards a train for
officer’s training and Maddy returns home to prepare for her role as Mrs.
Bemis. Both families are ecstatic over the future union, but Maddy is not so
thrilled. She is frustrated by the prospect of sitting home, having never had a
date and only one unsatisfying kiss, while her friends are out enjoying the
social frenzy and whirlwind romances of wartime Boston. When a sexy Irish
day-laborer tempts Maddy to slip away with him for a night of dancing, Maddy
literally jumps at the chance, but she gets more than she bargains for and is
left pregnant. When her parents
discover her “delicate situation” she is sent to an exclusive home for unwed
mothers in Golden, Colorado for a supposed “rest cure.” Meanwhile, Bemis has
been wounded and lies physically and emotionally shattered in a hospital in
England. The one hope he clings to is to return home and marry his “ever
faithful” Maddy. Marry they do, but there is no “happily ever after” for this
couple. Flash forward, Alice has gotten much too personally involved in Mrs.
Bemis’ case. Alice seeks out the help of detective Frank LeBeau, a police
officer that assisted her with a violent ex-boyfriend. As they explore their
relationship with each other, they are also forced to explore the strange
connections between their individual cases (Alice’s silent Mrs. Bemis and
Frank’s mysterious corpse).

This book raises many ethical
questions. Both Alice, the psychiatrist, and Frank the police detective, push
the boundaries of professional ethics. Alice uses her relationship with Frank
to access his police resources for information about Mrs. Bemis past. Frank
uses Alice to probe Mrs. Bemis for personal information about the dead man.
Alice uses Frank’s information to invade Mrs. Bemis personal life and to
trespass on her and other people’s property. Frank uses Alice’s information to
identify his corpse and to solve the mystery of his death. In addition, Alice
accepts a rather major gift from Mrs. Bemis – to go into details would ruin the
story – but it is substantial and clearly must be in violation of professional
ethics and practice for psychiatrists.

John Sedgwick is a magazine
journalist with 20 years of experience. He graduated from Harvard. He is a
writer-at-large for GQ, contributing
editor for Newsweek and the national
correspondent for Self. He has
written articles for Atlantic, Town and Country, and Worth. He has written three nonfiction
including, Night Visions: Confessions of
Gil Lewis, Private Eye (1982); Rich
Kids: Young Heirs and Heiresses: How They Love and Hate Their Money (1985) The Peaceable Kingdom: A Year In The Life Of
America’s Oldest Zoo (1988) and two novels, Dark House (2000), and The
Education of Mrs. Bemis (2002). John Sedgwick is a member of the historic
Sedgwick family of Boston and his family live in Newton, MA.

The
Education of Mrs. Bemis: A Novel by John Sedgwick is an education for the
reader. It should spark questions about ethical issues, but if the reader does
not want to think that hard, it is also an engrossing psychological mystery. A
worthwhile read! I recommend this book.

© 2002 Su Terry

Su Terry: Education:
B.A. in History from Sacred Heart University, M.L.S. in Library Science from
Southern Connecticut State College, M.R.S. in Religious Studies/Pastoral
Counseling from Fairfield University, a M.Div. in Professional Ministry from
New Brunswick Theological Seminary, a Certificate in Spirituality/Spiritual
Direction from Sacred Heart University. She is a Licensed Minister of the
United Church of Christ and an Assistant Professor in Library Science at
Dowling College, Long Island, NY. Interests in Mental Health: She is interested
in the interplay between psychology, biology, and mysticism. Her current area
of research is in the impact of hormonal fluctuation in female Christian
mystics.

Categories: Fiction, Psychotherapy