You're going about your daily routine when you suddenly feel an odd squirming in your chest. You quickly realize that it is your heart, flopping around like a fish out of water. What do you do? You probably panic! Maybe you also experience dizziness, nausea, or shortness of breath, or maybe you have no other symptoms at all. But it's still very scary because... it's your heart! This is how chronic atrial fibrillation starts for many of us, and those who develop it often have little to no prior medical history to speak of. Once the demon a-fib has set in, though, we soon find our lives redirected down a dark uncharted path, our days consumed by vain attempts to divine the elusive origins of this mysterious malady as we desperately seek a panacea that can give us back our "normal"... or at least some way to weaken the grasp that this unwelcome beast now has on our lives. Through it all, we put on performances of a lifetime for the rest of the world, acting as though all is well while coping as best we can with this invisible disorder... one that he who has never suffered through it cannot possibly understand. Try as we might, though, our lives and relationships will surely end up the worse for wear. Within the pages of this book lies one man's personal account of how this condition impacted his life, how he managed to overcome it, the valuable knowledge that was acquired along the way, and the permanent marks that the journey has left on his subsequent existence. This medical autobiography is written in an informal first-person conversational style with accounts and information presented in such a way that it should be easy for just about everyone to understand and relate to.

Méndez-Negrete's powerful account is the first memoir by a Mexican American author to share the devastation and hope a family experiences in dealing with schizophrenia.

When Rae Maddox begins yet another school in yet another town, a dangerous new friend forces her to finally take charge of her life--or risk losing everything and everyone she holds dear.

Saudi writer Fahd al-Atiq explores modern Riyadh through the character of Khaled, whose dysfunctional life, humdrum but rich in memories and introspection, bridges the gap between the old impoverished world of Najd and the consumerism of the years after the various oil booms, symbolized in this novel by the family's move from the lively back streets of the old city to an isolated dream villa in the new suburbs.

When Robert and June met, it was inevitable to everyone that knew them that they would share a special love. Their marriage and the birth of their son Tim created a life for the Shermans that was close to perfect. Their world is turned upside-down when Robert suddenly disappears while camping with Tim and their lives change in a way that is beyond earthly comprehension.

A much-praised memoir of living and surviving mental illness as well as "a stereotype-shattering look at a tenacious woman whose brain is her best friend and her worst enemy" (Time). Elyn R. Saks is an esteemed professor, lawyer, and psychiatrist and is the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, Psychiatry, and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California Law School, yet she has suffered from schizophrenia for most of her life, and still has ongoing major episodes of the illness. The Center Cannot Hold is the eloquent, moving story of Elyn's life, from the first time that she heard voices speaking to her as a young teenager, to attempted suicides in college, through learning to live on her own as an adult in an often terrifying world. Saks discusses frankly the paranoia, the inability to tell imaginary fears from real ones, the voices in her head telling her to kill herself (and to harm others), as well as the incredibly difficult obstacles she overcame to become a highly respected professional. This beautifully written memoir is destined to become a classic in its genre.

This National Book Award finalist is a revealing and beautifully written memoir and family history from acclaimed photographer Sally Mann. In this groundbreaking book, a unique interplay of narrative and image, Mann's preoccupation with family, race, mortality, and the storied landscape of the American South are revealed as almost genetically predetermined, written into her DNA by the family history that precedes her. Sorting through boxes of family papers and yellowed photographs she finds more than she bargained for: "deceit and scandal, alcohol, domestic abuse, car crashes, bogeymen, clandestine affairs, dearly loved and disputed family land . . . racial complications, vast sums of money made and lost, the return of the prodigal son, and maybe even bloody murder." In lyrical prose and startlingly revealing photographs, she crafts a totally original form of personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel but is firmly rooted in the fertile soil of her own life.

Each day Chrislove asks his friend Josias when he will "hold the book, " or join them at school, but Josias can only think of tending the bean garden so that his family will have enough food.

Delivering inspiration and "parenting comedy at its finest,"* here is one woman's story of ditching her fairytale dreams and falling in love with her unpredictable, chaotic, imperfect life Kristina Kuzmic has made herself a household name, speaking directly to mothers from the trenches of parenthood via her viral videos and social media presence. She is now bringing her message of self-acceptance, resilience, and joy to book readers. With a refreshingly unpretentious, funny, and galvanizing voice, Kuzmic goes behind the scenes to reveal how she went from broke and defeated to unshakably grounded and brimming with thankfulness. Illuminating the hard-won wisdom from a life always spent one step behind--whether it was as a high school student new to America, a suddenly single mother to two kids, remarried and juggling two teens and a toddler, or the unexpected recipient of Oprah's attention and investment--Hold On, But Don't Hold Still is the book every mother needs to reassure her that she's not only fine just as she is, but that she already has more tools and support than she can possibly imagine. Sparkling with wit, this heartfelt memoir is like a long coffee date with a best friend, or the eleventh-hour text message that gives you just the boost you need to get through the night. *The Huffington Post A VIKING LIFE TITLE

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • "A tightly woven, well-written story about mothers and daughters, highs and lows, ex-husbands and boyfriends.... Universally touching." —San Francisco Chronicle Trina is eighteen and suffers from bi-polar disorder, making her paranoid, wild, and violent. Frightened by her own child, Keri searches for help, quickly learning that the mental health community can only offer her a seventy-two hour hold. After these three days Trina is off on her own again. Fed up with the bureaucracy and determined to save her daughter by any means necessary, Keri signs on for an illegal intervention known as The Program, a group of radicals who eschew the psychiatric system and model themselves after the Underground Railroad. In the upheaval that follows, she is forced to confront a past that refuses to stay buried, even as she battles to secure a future for her child.