First published 2003
Ben watches his father struggle through another manic episode that spirals into dangerous territory. His dad disappears for days, returns with wild stories and grandiose plans, then crashes into a depression so deep that Ben fears he might lose him forever. The family walks on eggshells, never knowing which version of Dad will come through the door. Ben's mother tries to hold everything together while managing her own exhaustion and fear. When his father attempts suicide, Ben must confront the reality that love alone cannot fix mental illness. He learns to separate his father's disease from the man he knows underneath. The story explores how mental illness affects entire families, not just the person who suffers from it. Ben discovers that survival sometimes means accepting what you cannot change while finding strength in small moments of connection and hope.
Genres: mental-illness, contemporary, realistic-fiction, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
144 pages · Paperback · Hodder Children's Books
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness, suicide