Madness: A Bipolar Life

When Marya Hornbacher published a nationally best-selling memoir of her battle with anorexia and bulimia, she had no idea that there was, still to come, a piece of shattering knowledge that would finally make sense of the chaos of her life. Her struggles with mental illness, and the story she would ......more

When Marya Hornbacher published a nationally best-selling memoir of her battle with anorexia and bulimia, she had no idea that there was, still to come, a piece of shattering knowledge that would finally make sense of the chaos of her life. Her struggles with mental illness, and the story she would have to tell about them, were far from over.

At twenty-four, Hornbacher was diagnosed with Type I rapid cycle bipolar disorder, the most severe form. In

, she details her fight back from the disease that nearly destroyed her. Tracing the history of her illness, she shows how bipolar can spawn a number of other conditions, including eating disorders, substance abuse, promiscuity, and self-mutilation. Like Hornbacher, many struggle with these behaviors never knowing that bipolar may be the larger cause of their particular pain. Now, in this brave, heart-stopping, beautifully written memoir, Marya Hornbacher offers a challenge to the perception of bipolar in America.

is an incredible portrait of a difficult, sometimes beautiful life.(less)

Marya Hornbacher published her first book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia (HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.), in 1998, when she was twenty-three. What started as a crazy idea suggested by a writer friend became the classic book that has been published in fourteen languages, is taught in univ......more

Marya Hornbacher published her first book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia (HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.), in 1998, when she was twenty-three. What started as a crazy idea suggested by a writer friend became the classic book that has been published in fourteen languages, is taught in universities and writing programs all over the world, and has, according to the thousands of letters Marya has received over the years, changed lives.

Her second book, the acclaimed novel The Center of Winter (HarperCollins, 2005) has been called "masterful," "gorgeous writing," "a stunning acheivement of storytelling," "delicious," and "compulsive reading." Told in three voices, by six-year-old Kate, her mentally ill brother Esau, and their mother C

Marya Hornbacher published her first book, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia (HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.), in 1998, when she was twenty-three. What started as a crazy idea suggested by a writer friend became the classic book that has been published in fourteen languages, is taught in universities and writing programs all over the world, and has, according to the thousands of letters Marya has received over the years, changed lives.

Her second book, the acclaimed novel The Center of Winter (HarperCollins, 2005) has been called "masterful," "gorgeous writing," "a stunning acheivement of storytelling," "delicious," and "compulsive reading." Told in three voices, by six-year-old Kate, her mentally ill brother Esau, and their mother Claire, The Center of Winter is the story of a family recovering from a father's suicide in the spare, wintry Minnesota north, a story of struggle, transformation, and hope.

Marya's new memoir Madness: A Life (Houghton Mifflin) is an intense, beautifully written book about the difficulties, and promise, of living with mental illness. It is already being called "the most visceral, important book on mental illness to be published in years." It will be published in April of 2008.

The recipient of a host of awards for journalism and a Pulitzer Prize nominee, Marya has lectured at universities around the country, taught writing and literature, and published in academic and literary journals since 1992. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband Jeff, their cats Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot, and their miniature dachsunds Milton and Dante. (less)