Behave

A novel of passion and ambition based on the life of one of the most controversial scientists—and mothers—of the 20th century

In 1920, when she graduated from Vassar College with her degree in psychology, Rosalie Rayner took a coveted position at the Johns Hopkins research lab to assist the charismatic John B. Watson, the man who pioneered behaviorist psychology. Together, John Watson and Rosalie Rayner conducted experiments on hundreds of babies to prove behaviorist principles of nurture over nature. They also embarked on a scandalous affair that cost them both their jobs. The Watsons’ parenting book,Psychological Care of Infant and Child, which emphasized emotional detachment, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and affected the upbringings of generations of American children—but Rosalie, now a mother herself, had to confront its tenets personally.

With Behave, Andromeda Romano-Lax offers a fictional biography of Rosalie Rayner Watson, a woman whose lab work is now widely repudiated but who in her time was at the cutting edge of parenting psychology. This novel is in turns moving and horrifying, a thought-provoking and page-turning read about the meaning of motherhood.

Born in Chicago, Andromeda Romano-Lax is the author of The Spanish Bow, aNew York Times Editor's Choice that was translated into 11 languages, and The Detour, as well as numerous works of nonfiction. She teaches in the low-residency MFA program at the University of Anchorage Alaska and is a co-founder of 49 Writers, a statewide literary organization. Recently, she has divided her time between Alaska, Mexico, and Asia.