An astonishing portrait of maternal mental health and the familial ties that bind us all. Highly recommended.

A superb book. A personal insight into the trauma and devastation of post partum psychosis. Raw, emotional and real. Moving and hopeful.

This is a wonderfully written memoir from debut author Catherine Cho, who, in exploring her own post-partum psychosis, explores what makes us who we are. I was astonished that Catherine was able to write about such a recent experience in such a beautiful way. Not only is it a brilliant read, but this book has opened my eyes to something that I knew little to nothing about, so thank you to the author for writing it. Highly recommended.

While on an extended trip across America to introduce her new son to her family and in-laws, Catherine Cho suffers a complete psychotic breakdown. Her husband resorts to admitting her to a psychiatric hospital, where she must rebuild her identity. Cho writes with fluidity, linking her ideas so smoothly that the fear and confusion of a splintered mind are rendered vivid. Woven into the account of her psychosis is her past, her Korean culture and the domestic abuse she suffered at the hands of a former partner. This memoir must surely serve to enhance understanding – and break down the stigma – of mental ill health. At times harrowing, this is nonetheless a beautiful and important book. My thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for the ARC.

A brutally honest account of Catherine Cho’s post-natal psychosis and depression and how she ends up in an American psychiatric unit. The book starts with Cho - a Korean woman who lives in London - visiting the US with her husband and new baby. We first meet her on a psychiatric ward. The parts of the book in hospital never quite felt as gripping as the latter section on the lead-up to Cho’s incarceration, but you do feel the dislocation of ending up among strangers, as if you were in a boarding school or a prison. Ultimately it is love that pulls her back from the depths of madness and allows her to be a mother again. I’ve never read such a graphic and painful account of the terror of being pursued by demons and the paranoia that makes you believe that even your own tiny baby is the devil. I would recommend this powerful account - not only as a work about mental illness but as a tribute to the redemptive power of love and healing.