Psychotherapist Alyce Faye Cleese will deliver a lecture co-sponsored by the Bronfenbrenner Life Course Center and the Family Life Development Center at Cornell University Friday, Oct. 13, noon-1 p.m. at the Faculty Commons, Martha Van Rensselaer Hall. The lecture, free and open to the public, is based on Cleese's best-selling book with Brian Bates: How to Manage Your Mother: Understanding the Most Difficult, Complicated, and Fascinating Relationship in your Life .

Cleese is a well-known psychotherapist with degrees and training from Oklahoma State, Baylor and London universities. She has treated adolescents at the Tavistock Clinic in England and works with a wide range of adult patients at her private practice in London. She is married to actor John Cleese, a Cornell A.D. White Professor-at-Large, and they live in London and Santa Barbara, Calif.

How to Manage Your Mother examines relationships with mothers from an adult perspective and offers a practical 10-step plan to improve the relationship. Cleese uses real-life stories from patients and celebrities to look at the myriad emotions mothers evoke -- from guilt to affection to anger and embarrassment -- and offers advice on dealing with issues both past and present, including expectations, family secrets and mother loss. The book weaves high-profile interviews with Lauren Hutton, Mia Farrow, Mike Nichols, Helena Bonham Carter, Hugh Hefner, Arianna Huffington, Bill Goldman, Nicole Farhi, John Cleese and many others, with thoughtful guidance.

In addition, Cleese will give a talk Saturday, Oct. 14, at 2 p.m. in the Women's Community Building, 100 W. Seneca St., Ithaca, co-sponsored by The Bookery. She also will do a book signing at that event, and books will be available.