The Quiet Room: A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness

"A book of rare power, passion, and intelligence. Travel with Lori into the heart of schizophrenia, and you will never be the same." —Diane Sawyer, award-winning television news anchor Moving, harrowing, and ultimately uplifting, Lori Schiller's memoir is a classic testimony to the ravages of mental illness and the power of perseverance and courage. At seventeen Lori Schiller was the perfect child—the only daughter of an affluent, close-knit family. Six years later she made her first suicide attempt, then wandered the streets of New York City dressed in ragged clothes, tormenting voices crying out in her mind. Lori Schiller had entered the horrifying world of full-blown schizophrenia. She began an ordeal of hospitalizations, halfway houses, relapses, more suicide attempts, and constant, withering despair. But against all odds, she survived. In this personal account, she tells how she did it, taking us not only into her own shattered world, but drawing on the words of the doctors who treated her and family members who suffered with her. "Fascinating . . . undoubtedly will find a place in the cherished literature of first-person accounts of suffering and recovery." —The Washington Post Book World "Candid . . . courageous." —San Diego Union-Tribune "Makes frighteningly real the terror of schizophrenia." —USA Today "[A] stunning story of courage, persistence, and hope." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Chronicles her battle with the illness and reveals a woman who, thought desperately ill, showed tremendous courage." —The New York Times View Less