The Model Patient

A taut psychological exploration of obsession, betrayal and the dangerous relationship between a patient and therapist in 1960s London.

In the quiet hush of her therapist’s office, Evelyn Westbrook finds herself revealing secrets she’d prefer to keep hidden. Abandoning her successful modelling career to become a model wife for her husband, Henry, has left her days feeling empty. Her mother-in-law is pressing for a child that Evelyn doesn’t want. And her nights are haunted by a recurring nightmare in which she becomes a snake devouring its own tail.

As Evelyn’s sessions with the enigmatic Dr. Daley unearth more questions than answers, her interest in him turns into obsession. But is her therapist finally providing the care she needs, or is she being manipulated?

A compelling novel about identity, power, and the cost of playing the roles we never chose.

Coming April 2026

Pre-order links - US
Pre-order links - UK

The Model Patient

Reviews

  • "Ashe draws readers in with this seductive story...Evocative, empathetic, and ultimately empowering, this coiled psychological thriller will be catnip for fans of Alex Michaelides."

    Publishers Weekly, starred review

  • "Ashe weaves a psychological web into the plot while addressing cultural changes that occurred in the 1960s...Readers interested in a bird’s eye view of what it was like becoming a modern woman in the 1960s will be quickly immersed in this intense read."

    Library Journal

  • "Crackling with tension and rife with ingenious plot twists, Ashe’s latest is an exploration of friendship, marriage, and female objectification, set against the backdrop of 1960s London. Nothing is as it seems in this absorbing psychological thriller—and you won’t be able to put it down."

    Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Stolen Queen

  • "The Model Patient begins as an elegant domestic drama and builds, quietly and inexorably, into a darkly devastating psychological thriller. Lucy Ashe writes with passion, precision, and a rare understanding of how love and fear can blur into each other."

    Brian Platzer, author of The Body Politic

  • "Packed with colorful details of the swinging sixties, this twisty psychological exploration of marriage, deception, and desire will keep readers off-balance until the last page. An original and perceptive thriller, The Model Patient is full of deep, dark surprises’"

    Lynda Cohen Loigman, USA Today Bestselling Author of The Matchmaker’s Gift and The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern

  • "A chilling exploration of physical and psychological boundaries that exposes how the therapeutic relationship can blur the lines of sanity and of who is responsible when everything unravels."

    Nicole Nehrig, clinical and research psychologist and author of With Her Own Hands: Women Weaving their Stories

  • "[A] gripping historical psychological thriller. . . . What starts as a story about a woman trapped by societal expectations evolves into a dark exploration of manipulation and desire, building to a conclusion that will keep readers on edge until the end. . . . Ashe excels at immersive world-building. . . . But beneath the atmospheric setting lies a provocative examination of transference and obsession."

    Amita Parikh, international bestselling author of The Circus Train

  • "What an extraordinary novel! It’s compelling, feels deeply psychologically real – to the point where it occasionally seems almost voyeuristic to read the accounts of Evelyn’s sessions with Patrick Daley – and paints a picture of the early nineteen sixties which feels authentic in both mores and mindset. The gaslighting of Evelyn by both Daley and her in-laws is horrifically well done and her mother-in-law, in particular, made my skin crawl in distress … I genuinely found it difficult to put down … The Model Patient is an extraordinary achievement of narrative and psychology."

    Alis Hawkins, CWA Dagger Shortlisted Author of the Teifi Valley Coroner and The Oxford Mysteries series

  • "A web of obsession, power and desire spins itself across nightmarish corners of the psyche in this darkly glittering tale of female vulnerability and strength."

    Jennifer Cox, psychotherapist, author of Women Are Angry, and co-founder of the Women Are Mad movement. 

  • "Set at the fault line of the sexual revolution, The Model Patient is a taut, compelling exploration of beauty, power, and emotional dependency in 1960s London. With crisp, assured prose, Lucy Ashe examines what happens when a woman raised to perform for validation seeks refuge in therapy, only to find the roles shifting in disturbing ways and ethical boundaries crumbling. Brilliantly observed, painfully awkward, and deeply unsettling."

    Seth Insua, author of Human, Animal

  • "Poignant and riveting in equal measure, Ashe delves into the complicated, and often, volatile relationship between a therapist and patient with her trademark style and poise, delivering a literary thriller that cements her status as one of the most important writers alive today, very much in vein with Margaret Atwood and Gilian Flynn. An unmissable tour de force."

    Awais Khan, author of No Honour and In the Company of Strangers