Hidden Valley Road

Hidden Valley Road, past the convent and the dairy farm in the Woodmen Valley, along the shoulders and onto the median strips of highways. He often stops at the grounds of the United States Air Force Academy, where their father once worked, and where many people now pretend not to recognize him. And closer to home, Donald has stood sentry as children play in the yard of the local elementary school, announcing in his soft, almost Irish lilt that he is their new teacher. He only stops when the principal demands that he stay away. In those moments, Mary, a second-grader, is sorrier than ever that her world is so small that everyone knows that she is Donald s sister.

Mary s mother is well practiced at laughing off moments like these, behaving as if nothing is strange. To do anything else would be the same as admitting that she lacks any real control over the situation that she cannot understand what is happening in her house, much less know how to stop it. Mary, in turn, has no choice but to not react at all to Donald. She notices how closely both her mother and father monitor all of their children now for warning signs: Peter with his rebellion, Brian and his drugs, Richard getting expelled, Jim picking fights, Michael checking out completely. To complain or cry or show any emotion at all, Mary knows, will send the message that something might be wrong with her, too.

And the fact is that the days when Mary sees Donald in that bedsheet are better than some of the other days. Sometimes after school, she comes home to find Donald in the middle of an undertaking only he can understand like transplanting every last piece of furniture out of the house and into the backyard, or pouring salt into the aquarium and poisoning all the fish. Other times, he is in the bathroom, vomiting his medications: Stelazine and Thorazine and Haldol and Prolixin and Artane. Sometimes he i

besieged by humanity s most mysterious malady. Kolker writes about the Galvin family with elegance and insight while weaving together the decades long quest to understand the genetics of schizophrenia, somehow creating a story that is as haunting and intriguing as a great gothic novel. This book is a triumph, an unforgettable story that you should read right now.
Susannah Cahalan, author of Brain on Fire and The Great Pretender

Hidden Valley Road contains everything: scientific intrigue, meticulous reporting, startling revelations, and, most of all, a profound sense of humanity. It is that rare book that can be read again and again.
David Grann, author of Killers of the Flower Moon
 
An extraordinary case study and tour de force of reporting.
Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind
 
This broad-ranging, highly readable, and deeply unsettling book tells the story of a family beset with schizophrenia, and in doing so provides meaningful insights into the devastation caused by the disease. It is, equally, a study of the multiple ways in which familial denial can exacerbate the inherent pain of mental illness, and of the courage required both of those who are themselves diagnosed with it and of those who choose to help and support them.
Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree

This book tore my heart out. It is a revelation about the history of mental health treatment, about trauma, foremost about family and a more-than-worthy follow-up to Robert Kolker s brilliant Lost Girls.
Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me and Give Me Your Hand
 
In a narrative that is at once gripping and humane, Kolker tells an ultimately hopeful story of one family s small victories and the slow progress of research that may someday benefit millions.
Marin Sardy, author of The Edge of Every Day

A sweeping yet profoundly intimate story of one family s breathtaking challenges with schizophrenia and humanity s long history of misbegotten efforts to make sense of, and treat, the condition. Like The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, this masterfully researched and utterly engrossing book shines a light on individuals who were foundational to medical study and subjected to questionable ethics. Your heart will break, your sympathies will swell, and the Galvins will stay with you forever.
Rachel Simon, author of Riding the Bus with My Sister

A stunning, riveting chronicle crackling with intelligence and empathy . . . Kolker tackles this extraordinarily complex story so brilliantly and effectively that readers will be swept away. An exceptional, unforgettable, and significant work that must not be missed.
Booklist, starred review
 
Riveting and disquieting . . . Kolker deftly follows the psychiatric, chemical, and biological theories proposed to explain schizophrenia and the various treatments foisted upon the brothers. Most poignantly, he portrays the impact on the unafflicted children of the brothers illness, an oppressive emotional atmosphere, and the family s festering secrets . . . A family portrait of astounding depth and empathy.
Kirkus Reviews, starred review
 
A powerful look at schizophrenia and the quest to understand it . . . A taut and often heartbreaking narrative . . . A haunting and memorable look at the impact of mental illness on multiple generations.
Publishers Weekly, starred review