Leaving the Hall Light On

Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide charts the near-destruction of one middle-class family whose son committed suicide after a seven-year struggle with bipolar disorder. Madeline Sharples, author, poet and web journalist, g......more

Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother's Memoir of Living with Her Son's Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide charts the near-destruction of one middle-class family whose son committed suicide after a seven-year struggle with bipolar disorder. Madeline Sharples, author, poet and web journalist, goes deep into her own well of grief to describe her anger, frustration and guilt. She describes many attempts -- some successful, some not -- to have her son committed to hospital and to keep him on his medication. The book also charts her and her family's redemption, how she considered suicide herself, and ultimately, her decision live and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother and writer.(less)

Madeline Sharples grew up in the Chicago area and fell in love with writing in middle and high school. She attended the University of Wisconsin as a journalism major, but transferred to UCLA her senior year attaining a degree in English.

She worked in the aerospace business (TRW and Nort......more

Madeline Sharples grew up in the Chicago area and fell in love with writing in middle and high school. She attended the University of Wisconsin as a journalism major, but transferred to UCLA her senior year attaining a degree in English.

She worked in the aerospace business (TRW and Northrop Grumman) as a technical writer and editor, web content writer, and proposal manager for almost thirty years. Madeline also worked for non-profits as a development director and producing fund raising events, managing capital campaigns, and writing grant proposals.

She finally fulfilled her dream to work as a creative writer and journalist late in life. After many classes and workshops, her memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother’s Memoir of Living wit

Madeline Sharples grew up in the Chicago area and fell in love with writing in middle and high school. She attended the University of Wisconsin as a journalism major, but transferred to UCLA her senior year attaining a degree in English.

She worked in the aerospace business (TRW and Northrop Grumman) as a technical writer and editor, web content writer, and proposal manager for almost thirty years. Madeline also worked for non-profits as a development director and producing fund raising events, managing capital campaigns, and writing grant proposals.

She finally fulfilled her dream to work as a creative writer and journalist late in life. After many classes and workshops, her memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On: A Mother’s Memoir of Living with Her Son’s Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide, was released in 2011 (Dream of Things).

Madeline co-authored Blue-Collar Women: Trailblazing Women Take on Men-Only Jobs (New Horizon Press, 1994), co-edited the poetry anthology, The Great American Poetry Show, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, and wrote the poems for The Emerging Goddess photography book (Paul Blieden, photographer). Her poems have also appeared online and in print magazines. Aberdeen Bay published her first novel, Papa’s Shoes: A Polish shoemaker and his family settle in small-town America, a work of historical fiction, in May 2019.

Her articles have appeared in the Huffington Post, Naturally Savvy, Aging Bodies, PsychAlive, Story Circle Network’s HerStories and One Woman’s Day blogs, and the Memoir Network blog. She has appeared on panels at writers’ conferences and have spoken about and read her work at book clubs, book stores, libraries, churches, writing groups, and on the radio. She also posts about writing on her website Choices.

She is proud to add that her memoir Leaving the Hall Light On was on a list compiled by Erin Burba of BookRiot of the 100 Must-Read Biographies and Memoirs of Remarkable Women. This list included memoirs written by Mary Karr, Joan Didion, Cheryl Strayed, Sonia Sotomayor, Madeleine Albright, Maya Angelou, Anais Nin, Malala Yousafzai, Patti Smith, Katharine Graham, Nora Ephron, and many more.

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