Where Are the Cocoa Puffs?: A Famiy's Journey Through Bipolar Disorder.

[Karen Winters Schwartz]

My novel, Where Are the Cocoa Puffs?: A Famiy's Journey Through Bipolar Disorder is due out August 30th, 2010.  This is my debut novel.  Needless to say, I am very excited.  I’m also slightly freaked-out and nauseated.  Check out the synopsis below.

Book Synopsis:

As eighteen-year-old Amanda spirals into mania, her father, psychiatrist Dr. Jerry Benson, sees the realization of his worst fears: his daughter is not just moody, but truly ill. With his words, his diagnosis – manic depressive illness – his world and that of his family is forever altered. Carol, Amanda’s mother, struggles with the guilt and the shame of having raised a “crazy” daughter. Christy, Amanda’s fifteen-year-old sister, denies the illness; after all, ‘my-sister’s-a-bitch’ is so much easier to accept. Meanwhile, the Bensons’ extended family offers up everything from unconditional support to uncomfortable scrutiny as Amanda careens between bouts of frightening violence, cosmic euphoria, and suicidal despair.

Then there’s Ryan, an architecture student, who is initially ensnared by Amanda’s manic sexuality, but is ultimately captured and held throughout the chaos by the force of love and strength of family.

 

Where are the Cocoa Puffs?: A Family Journey Through Bipolar Disorder, follows a family through the tragedy of bipolar disorder, but it’s not tragic. It’s funny, sad, and thought provoking – and as real and as raw as mental illness itself.

 

Publisher:

Goodman Beck Publishing
PO Box 253
Norwood, NJ 07648

[Leslie Wright]

Thank you Karen for a look into your book. Such a real situation for some families and a brave undertaking to bring to light. This is the type of thing that is usually hidden in families. Good luck and good selling.

[Karen Winters Schwartz]

Yes, Leslie. This is exactly what I what to do -- bring this subject out into the open. And, yes, I am a little frightened; as this novel is, at its core, our personal story.