“A profound and beautiful work . . . searingly honest, brazenly fresh, and startlingly rich.”—Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon

“Strange Situation is a beautiful exploration of what makes us human—our relationships. By artfully weaving together her own experiences as a mother, daughter, and wife with the science of attachment and the fascinating life history of one of its founders, Mary Ainsworth, Saltman helps us to see ourselves—and our relationships with those we love—in an entirely new way.”—Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Bethany Saltman ’92 is currently on tour with her new book Strange Situation: A Mother’s Journey into the Science of Attachment, to be released on April 21st 2020 by Random House/Ballantine.

Strange Situation, written by Saltman over the course of ten years, is a book which investigates the controversial and often misunderstood science of attachment theory. Inspired by Saltman’s own experience as a mother and as a daughter, she writes about her ten-year journey visiting labs, archives, and training session and working together closely with one of psychology’s most important but unsung researchers: Mary Ainsworth who died in 1999.

The book is part memoir, part biography, part science, and takes a deep-dive into big questions that arose during her training as a Zen student, as a new mother, as a daughter, and as a human being.

As stated by Penguin Random House, “Strange Situation is a scientific, lyrical, life-affirming exploration of love. Not only will readers be taken on an emotional ride, but they will also be given the tools with which to better understand their own life histories and their relationships today.”

The book is available for pre-order by visiting the Strange Situation page of Saltman’s new website. If you’d like to catch Saltman on her tour, she has events lined up in NYC, upstate, Wisconsin, and Toronto so far. All events can be found here.