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High Clear Bell of Morning by Ann Eriksson (D&M $22.95)
Ann Eriksson's fourth novel, High Clear Bell of Morning examines what happens to a family when a loved one requires help with a mental illness.
"My interest in writing this novel,"; Eriksson says, "grew from the experience of watching a family close to me implode when one of their children became mentally ill and eventually drug addicted.
"For the most part I was a helpless onlooker, and probably with all the stereotypes and misconceptions about mental illness in place. So writing about these issues became a way I could educate myself, but also, in some small way, to contribute to raising awareness.
"I was struck by how traumatizing the mental health system experience was for the entire family and by how difficult it was for them to get and maintain the help they needed, both a result of the nature of the disease, (e.g. lack of insight, variability in response to medications, lack of compliance) but also the inadequacies of the system (e.g. poorly understood disorder, lack of psychiatrists, legal privacy and rights issues).
"Stigma also remains a huge problem, toward both the ill person and the family. I heard and read many stories about parents who were made to feel they were the source of their child's problems by poorly educated health care workers, and sometimes shut out of participating in treatment. I was also shocked that a person could go into the system with a mental illness and come out a drug addict. This is unfortunately quite common, as ill, vulnerable and lonely young people, who may have lost all their other friends because of their bizarre behaviour, are exposed in the hospital, group therapy, and group homes, to other mentally ill peers with addiction problems.";
Ann Eriksson of Thetis Island was born in Saskatchewan and grew up in all three prairie provinces. Having studied and lived in New Zealand, Europe and Halifax, she came to the West Coast in 1978, living for ten years on Galiano Island. Moving to Victoria in 1990, she completed a degree in biology with a minor in Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Her work as a consulting biologist on biodiversity has had an impact on her writing. Ann Eriksson is also a founding director of the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy.
Ann Eriksson and her husband Gary Geddes will be featured at the Word on the Lake Festival in Salmon Arm, May 16-18. Also appearing will be C.C Humphreys, Carmen Aguirre, Gail Anderson-Dargetz, Diane Gabaldon, Ursula Maxwell-Lewis and Howard White-along with literary agent Carolyn Swayze, singer/songwriter David Essig and editor Shelagh Jamieson.
For more information, visit www.saow.ca
978-1-77162-023-9
"My interest in writing this novel,"; Eriksson says, "grew from the experience of watching a family close to me implode when one of their children became mentally ill and eventually drug addicted.
"For the most part I was a helpless onlooker, and probably with all the stereotypes and misconceptions about mental illness in place. So writing about these issues became a way I could educate myself, but also, in some small way, to contribute to raising awareness.
"I was struck by how traumatizing the mental health system experience was for the entire family and by how difficult it was for them to get and maintain the help they needed, both a result of the nature of the disease, (e.g. lack of insight, variability in response to medications, lack of compliance) but also the inadequacies of the system (e.g. poorly understood disorder, lack of psychiatrists, legal privacy and rights issues).
"Stigma also remains a huge problem, toward both the ill person and the family. I heard and read many stories about parents who were made to feel they were the source of their child's problems by poorly educated health care workers, and sometimes shut out of participating in treatment. I was also shocked that a person could go into the system with a mental illness and come out a drug addict. This is unfortunately quite common, as ill, vulnerable and lonely young people, who may have lost all their other friends because of their bizarre behaviour, are exposed in the hospital, group therapy, and group homes, to other mentally ill peers with addiction problems.";
Ann Eriksson of Thetis Island was born in Saskatchewan and grew up in all three prairie provinces. Having studied and lived in New Zealand, Europe and Halifax, she came to the West Coast in 1978, living for ten years on Galiano Island. Moving to Victoria in 1990, she completed a degree in biology with a minor in Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Her work as a consulting biologist on biodiversity has had an impact on her writing. Ann Eriksson is also a founding director of the Thetis Island Nature Conservancy.
Ann Eriksson and her husband Gary Geddes will be featured at the Word on the Lake Festival in Salmon Arm, May 16-18. Also appearing will be C.C Humphreys, Carmen Aguirre, Gail Anderson-Dargetz, Diane Gabaldon, Ursula Maxwell-Lewis and Howard White-along with literary agent Carolyn Swayze, singer/songwriter David Essig and editor Shelagh Jamieson.
For more information, visit www.saow.ca
978-1-77162-023-9
Submitted on March 6, 2014 in By David.
