D.W. Winnicott’s remarkable books, including The Piggle , Home Is Where We Start From and The Child , Family and the Outside World (all published by Penguin) are still read, valued and argued with over thirty years after his death. Adam Phillips’ short book, now issued with a new preface, is an elegant, thoughtful attempt to get to grips with a writer, paediatrician and psychiatrist whose work with children and mothers (and the wider implications their relationship has for all of us) continues to be profoundly relevant and fascinating.