Mental Illness is something that every single person has to deal it, be it directly or indirectly. It scares me to see just how many people suffer from mental illness and I often wonder – do we have more mental illness in this generation? Or is it because it went undiagnosed in previous generations? No matter, we are now, as a society, dealing with this disease and all its various forms.

What amazes me is the stigma that STILL seems to be attached today. Why is that? Is certainly a question that author Kate McLaughlin has asked and, no doubt, keeps asking herself.

Kate McLaughlin certainly knows first hand the joys and pains of living with this disease. Two of her children suffer from mental illness and this has had to redefine the life that this family lives and it has also had to redefine what being a woman and a mother means to Kate.

What follows is a heartbreaking and heartwarming memoir of what it is like to live in the midst of mental illness – to live with people that you love who are suffering, sometimes on a daily basis with this disease. The feelings of helplessness that it evokes and at the same time, the feelings of hope and love that it also touches.

You have to be brave to live with this disease and this story shows us just how courageous this family really is.

I loved this story of stark reality against a sea of love. It made me cry on quite a few occasions (I hate it when that happens) and I am in awe of these people.

Thank you Kate for sharing such an intimate story of courage and love ( )