The White Hotel opens with an exchange of letters among Freud, Sandor Ferenczi, and Hanns Sachs. Although these letters, along with all case studies in the novel, are fictional, Thomas’ Freud abides by the generally known facts of his historical counterpart’s life. Though the psychoanalyst might be jolted by the uncanny reflection greeting his eyes in “Fräu Anna G.,” a reflection highlighting the human face in all its nobility and sorrow, grateful readers need not look beyond the pleasure principle to appreciate The White Hotel. (69 pp.)