The lily pond

by Mike Barnes

"The Lily Pond is a memoir that explores the author's thirty-plus years of living with bipolar disorder ..." "It chronicles unflinchingly the destructiveness of an illness that infiltrates thinking, feeling and acting in ways that change the very fabric of identity, of the life story one is telling oneself; but it is equally searching in its exploration of the psyche's resources in healing and reknitting that story. Art is an essential strand in this weave: as balm, as goad, as source of potent symbol and pattern. By turns harrowing, reflective, speculative and, ultimately, hopeful, The Lily Pond spirals through four decades, relating an ongoing struggle from changing vantage points: as a patient, in and out of hospital; as a family member; as a participant in psychotherapy; and as a caregiver to a loved one during her own mental illness. As the narrative evolves this ever-widening and deepening perspective, the largest and most important arc of The Lily Pond is revealed: the journey f