Juggling the demands of a large family and difficult husband is often difficult enough for Monika as a Polish immigrant who has made her life in America without the support of her extended family. However, when her talented, charismatic young son starts to experiment with teenage counterculture, his delicate mental health starts to spiral out of control and Monika is dragged along a frightening and exhausting path which challenges her beyond what she could ever have imagined. Monika's heartfelt love and compassion for her troubled son never wavers but she feels completely out of her depth as she struggles to help her son and cope as her life is thrown off balance. At times harrowing but always engaging, this book is a searingly honest depiction of the loneliness and frustration of a mother at her wits' end and a son in the grip of forces beyond his control. It highlights many weaknesses in the systems available to families experiencing mental health crises and the risks posed by both illegal drugs and those prescribed to improve a young man's disturbed mind and behaviour.
