Description
Book SynopsisA “searingly honest and riveting” (Colm Tóibín) memoir interweaving the author’s descent into depression with a medical and cultural history of the illness.
Trade Review"Compulsively readable." -- Daphne Merkin
"Cregan poignantly demonstrates the hard-won pragmatism of those who have battled mental illness.… In providing kinship to its fellow traveler, The Scar becomes the best sort of memoir—one that serves a higher purpose." -- Leslie Kendall Dye - Los Angeles Review of Books
"A superbly intelligent and subtle interrogation of depression.… Gripping, elegant, constantly illuminating." -- Fintan O’Toole - Irish Times
"Disturbing, powerful, revelatory." -- Booklist (starred review)
"[A] powerful debut.… [Mary] Cregan writes lucidly of her illness and offers hope as well as valuable insights for those living with depression." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"“Cregan’s debut stands out for its personal and profound insights into a subject that can be difficult to grasp." -- Library Journal (starred review)
"Intimate and brave.… [
The Scar] joins ranks with Kay Redfield Jamison’s book,
An Unquiet Mind, and William Styron’s book
Darkness Visible." -- Pat Sainz - Missourian
"A wrenching memoir of loss, sorrow, and recovery, as well as a layperson’s informed and intelligent investigation of the illness that almost ended her life." -- Honor Molloy - Irish Echo
"Courageous.… Cregan talks about mental health in a way that resonates with readers even as it informs. Those struggling with depression will find things to identify with here, and all readers will gain more insight into how depression affects its victims." -- Stephen Lovely - Celadon Books
"In
The Scar, Mary Cregan has set herself the challenge of describing her personal anguish while educating the reader about the history of the treatment of depression. With a rare combination of clear-sightedness, a novelist’s sense of narrative presence and cultural texture, and an ability to synthesize and explain an enormous quantity of scientific data, Mary Cregan makes an entirely original and invaluable contribution to the literature of this illness that has cast its mysterious shadow over so many lives." -- Mary Gordon, author of There Your Heart Lies
