Quicksand (1967) 221 pages by John Brunner.

Paul Fiddler is a psychiatrist at the mental hospital in Chent. On his way home from work he stops by the local pub. A injured man comes in, saying he was attacked by a naked woman. With the mental hospital being near there is speculation that it is an escapee. It's not. The sheriff and Paul find the woman, not an escapee, but she doesn't speak English so they take her to the mental hospital.

The story follows Paul the entire way. He's mildly successful, but has to work hard, not enough respect from his boss, he has problems with his wife, and is generally unhappy. The science fiction part of the story is who is the girl, Arzheen/Urchin, and where did she come from. Paul has sessions with Urchin. In short order she learns English, and the sessions become more informative.

Instead of a lot of questioning of where did Urchin come from, how is it going to affect our world, and that sort of thing, the story is more how is this affecting Paul, what is Paul going to do. It's a psychological novel. Then at the end we get a little explanation of what has happened.

It was intriguing, kept my interest. The scenes with Paul and Urchin were the most fun to read, and constituted a major portion of the novel. I'm glad I picked this book off the shelf.