‘A guard within’ is a beautifully written, powerful and disturbing book. It is Sarah Ferguson's story of her analysis, and the abrupt ending of this relationship when her analyst died of a heart attack. The book is written in the form of letters to her analyst, and she retells in them the story of her life from early childhood up to her analyst's death and beyond it. She was unhappy as a child, feeling compelled to simulate illness in order to attract attention. She was frustrated in her marriage, deeply distressed because she was not able to conceive, but also disturbed by her inability to fulfil the needs of her adopted little girl.

Her analysis was clearly the highlight of her life; her analyst was a child psychiatrist,