Books by Margret Berendes
The Arabic Anka Pendant and Where Time is Round

Summary of The Arabic Anka Pendant

For many years Margret Berendes worked as a psychiatrist not only in private practice but also at a mental health clinic in one of the poorest sections of Washington, D.C. At times her unbelievable experiences in that setting and the many unresolved questions about mental illness and what constitutes an effective treatment inspired her to write this novel.

It is the story of a woman psychiatrist and Adrian, a most unusual patient. Forty year old and highly educated, this African American Vietnam veteran spends his days in city libraries, his nights homeless in the street. Ordered by the mental health commission to undergo mandatory treatment, he is supposed to be seen on a regular basis by Sibyl, his psychiatrist. Though it seems that only chance has brought them together their lives appear to be mysteriously interwoven.

The story takes the reader from a mental health clinic in Washington, D.C., to a Benedictine monastery in New Mexico and finally to an Inuit settlement in the Canadian Arctic. Thus, ten years go by before the secret of this obscure connection between two human beings reveals itself