Echoes of Family by Barbara Claypole White

Echoes of Family by Barbara Claypole White follows Marianne Stokes, who suffers from bipolar disorder, as she struggles to reconcile her past and deal with her disease. She had been stable for years and doing well, running a recording studio and a charity for homeless girls, until she was in a car accident that resulted in the loss of the other driver's unborn child dragged up unhappy memories of a decades old crash that did the same thing to her. Marianne blames herself for both accidents, and the losses are too much a burden for her to bear. She flees to her native England to try and find some answers, meeting up with her former best-friend-now-pastor Gabriel, but ends up hospitalized due to a manic episode.

Just this description alone might seem like a total downer, but it's not! This book runs the gamut from devastatingly sad to laugh out loud funny, and while it shows the devastating effects of mental illness on both the individuals that have the disease and the people that love them, it also shows how worthy they are of love and that they can live a happy and healthy life (with the right meds of course). Marianne's search for redemption and self-acceptance can apply to anyone, not just those with a mood disorder. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand mental illnesses, whether you are personally affected by it or not.