Love's Labour by Stephen Grosz #VirtualBookTour #LovesLabour @stephengrosz @vintagebooks @randomthingstours #BookReview

 

Change the way you think about love.

When it comes to relationships, why do we find things so difficult? Drawing on more than forty years of candid and surprising conversations with his patients, psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz shows us how we can be better at love.

In the intimate space of the consulting room, we meet the woman who can’t post her wedding invitations but then, decades later, can’t decide whether to get divorced; the ex-nun whose unconscious fear of pregnancy drove her into the convent; and the friendship group that explodes when an adulterous affair begins. Compelling, revealing and full of wisdom, Love’s Labour shows us that only when we see ourselves and our world clearly are we truly ready to love one another.

Love's Labour by Stephen Grosz was published in paperback on 28 May 2026 by Vintage. Thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this #RandomThingsTours Virtual Book Tour. 

Stephen Grosz’s Love’s Labour is a well writing and fascinating exploration of the complexities of human relationships. The author uses his more than forty years of psychoanalytic practice, and it feels as though the reader has been invited into his consulting room.

Through a series of  case studies, the author examines why relationships can be so difficult to navigate. These vary and include a woman unable to send her wedding invitations, an ex-nun confronting unconscious fears, or friendships fractured by betrayal, each of the stories highlights the hidden emotional forces that shape our decisions. 

The writing is elegant, and full of compassion. The author depicts his patients with humanity, never reducing them to diagnoses or simple explanations. Instead, he demonstrates how self-awareness develops gradually, often through the careful examination of memories, emotions, and recurring behaviours. Reading about how these connections start to emerge in each person is fascinating and often moving.

The book explores themes of attachment, loss, sexuality, family dynamics, and the search for intimacy with such insight. 

At its heart, the book suggests that genuine love requires honesty; both with ourselves and with others. The author's stories linger long after the final page. Wise, compassionate, and deeply perceptive, Love’s Labour offers a fresh perspective on why we love as we do and how greater self-understanding can transform our relationships. Recommended 

Stephen Grosz is a practicing psychoanalyst - he has worked with patients for more than
forty years. 

Born in America, he was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Oxford University, and now lives in London. 

His Number One Sunday Times bestseller, The Examined Life,has been translated into more than thirty languages.