‘It happens again and again,’ says Siri Engevik, a middle-aged woman with a deep frown, looking at me from behind thick turquoise glasses. ‘He promises he’ll change, but he never does. He doesn’t even particularly bother to hide the evidence anymore. The other day, a woman called several times when we were having another one of those godawful, silent dinners in an old-fashioned steak restaurant. You know the kind. Unheated plates. Rodeo-style interiors. Laminated menus. Why won’t he take me to sushi? I want to go to one of those fancy Asian places in Tjuvholmen. I bet that’s the kind of place where you go. With your husband.’ She gives me a little wink to let me know she knows very well who my husband is, a tiny triumph.

‘Siri, you were saying that a woman rang repeatedly?’

‘Yes, his phone was on the table. It kept lighting up and vibrating. Knut glanced at it and I could see the name “Amanda” flashing across the table. I asked who Amanda is and he just shrugged and kept chewing. I swear, the way he eats drives me crazy. It’s like he shovels the food into his big wet mouth and sends it around in circles in there. I wanted to walk out. I really did.’

I glance at the time. Twenty past three. Siri Engevik has been coming for around a year and is quite a demanding client; she becomes easily frustrated with the necessary limitations of the therapeutic relationship and can become agitated if I cut her off to say our time’s up, or if I decline to answer a personal question. She frequently finishes her musings with Don’t you think? and though I point out that what I think isn’t necessarily the point, she’ll keep pushing and say – But what do you think? What’s your opinion? You must have an opinion.

‘Why didn’t you?’ I ask, gently.

‘Why didn’t I what?’

‘Walk out. You said you wanted to walk out. And that you feel disrespected by your husband.’

‘Well, yes. How would you feel if your husband sat at the dinner table taking calls from another woman, some old bitch called Amanda. Tell me, Dr Moss, how would that make you feel?’

‘Siri. Let’s focus on how it makes you feel. I sense a lot of anger here.’

‘Well, wouldn’t you be angry?’

‘I think anger would be a very natural response to the situation you’re describing.’

‘It’s pathetic, though. Getting so angry over little things.’

‘Little things?’