Alice checks the woman’s vital signs and requests a staff member summon emergency medical assistance. She is fairly certain that the lady is physically sound and thinks she has suffered some sort of mental distress that has caused her to retreat into herself. Alice suggests to the attending physician that he refer her to Montrose if her physical condition suggests no organic cause for her distress.

Initially, no one on the staff at Montrose can illicit any response from Madeline Bemis, but Alice feels a special kinship with her. She begs her superior for the opportunity to work with Madeline, to try to establish some communication which she hopes will disclose the source of Madeline’s discomfort.

The other attending staff are recommending a plethora of drugs to deal with the problem. Progress is slow, though Alice latches onto the name Hurley in Madeline’s ramblings as someone important to her. Alice recalls a news story about a body discovered by some skinny dipping teenagers which had been identified as one Brendan Hurley. Alice feels there is a connection and is determined to follow it up, thinking this may be the key to unlocking the cause of Madeline’s withdrawal from the world.

The Education of Mrs. Bemis is a novel though it contains some mysterious elements (most notably the relationship between Mrs. Bemis, a socially prominent Bostonian, and Brendan, the wayward son of Irish immigrants) . The book faithfully chronicles the life of Madeline Bemis from her teenage years during World War II, as the daughter of a successful Boston businessman and his high society wife. It is told in a series of flashbacks interspersed with details of Alice’s life, both past and present. While Madeline’s life is carefully detailed, her character is pretty much what one would expect of a person in her position at that time in history. What she does, and the results of her actions, are entirely without surprises.

Another prominent theme in the book is the relationship which develops between Alice and Madeline. Alice imagines herself as a person not unlike what Madeline must have been at her age and feels a great deal of empathy toward the older woman. Madeline reciprocates as she is drawn out of her funk, which is, again, exactly what one would expect.

The real failing of the novel is in the professional relationship between Alice and the policeman assigned to investigate the death of Brendan Hurley. The professional ethics of the policeman, Frank LeBeau, are as suspect as those of Alice. Frank gives Alice many details about the crime and agrees to use his resources to get information for her - way beyond the limit of what she should expect in her role as Madeline’s therapist. Alice, for her part, tells Frank things that are clearly within the realm of doctor/patient privilege. They both deserve to be reprimanded by their superiors. These confidences are exchanged between people who were unknown to each other before their common interest in the death of Brendan Hurley brought them together. Frank, a supposedly close-mouthed, reserved New Englander, doesn’t fit his profile very well.

Reading The Education of Mrs. Bemis is probably an adequate use of your time for a few hours on the beach or in an airplane. However, it offers little food for thought after the final page is read.

--Andy Plonka