10 Stories

In a quiet waiting room on New York's Upper West Side, ten strangers sit in silence—each carrying a private storm no one else can see. A woman counts her steps so she won't disappear. A retired teacher diagnoses himself with a new illness every morning. A young student feels unplugged from her own life. A musician blurts out words he doesn't mean. A chef can't bear a single plate on the table. A programmer fears the thoughts he'd never act on. A librarian has never said "no" in her life. A photographer maps every exit in the city. A mother worries donuts will turn her children into criminals. An old writer wonders why we count days if we're just counting days. They've all been mistakenly scheduled for the same appointment with Dr. Elliot Rosen—their last session before he leaves for a week away. Over the course of one ordinary Tuesday, he sees them one by one, not as cases, but as people speaking in frequencies the world hasn't learned to hear. TEN STORIES is a tender, witty, and deeply human portrait of modern anxiety, written with the warmth of Woody Allen and the empathy of a true listener. There are no diagnoses, no cures, no heroes—just ten ordinary people trying to stay real in a world that rarely makes sense. This is not a book about mental illness. It's a book about being human.