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The notes are all addressed to John Gregory Dunne, Didion’s husband and lifelong writing partner.

Almost all the notes center on Didion and Dunne’s daughter, Quintana, who in her own sessions with a psychiatrist had expressed concern that Didion was depressed and should “see someone.”

The notes to John tell Dunne nothing he didn’t already know; what’s chronicled is a process by which a set of fresh eyes pushes Didion to accept that she can’t control every narrative.

The narrative isn’t one of progression, but of volatile stasis as Didion and Dunne attempt to help Quintana, then in her 30s and grappling with depression, isolation and alcoholism.

Didion and Dunne, who adopted Quintana as a newborn, were loving parents who folded their new daughter into the life they lived in tandem — editing each other’s writing and collaborating on screenplays, throwing parties and taking gossipy phone calls from separate offices in the same house.