The bestselling book that inspired the cult classic film, Girl, Interrupted, starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.

"Not since Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim" TIME

"Intelligent and painful" Guardian

"Poignant, astonishing memoir" New York Times


In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles.

A clear-sighted, unflinching work that provokes questions about our definitions of sane and insane, Kaysen's extraordinary memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers.

* Published with film tie-in cover to coincide with film's release * Joint promotion with UK film distributor to include competitions through the national press and women's magazines * Limited film posters available for window displays * Reviews and feature coverage in national newspapers, magazines and film press

About the Author
Susanna Kaysen (1948) was brought up in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she still lives. She has written two novels, ASA, AS I KNEW HIM and FAR AFIELD. While working on the latter, memories of her two year stay at McLean's Psychiatric Hospital began to emerge. With the help of a lawyer she obtained her 350 page file from the hospital. GIRL, INTERRUPTED followed.

Reviews
Girl, Interrupted is a beautiful, complex story that truly led the way on opening up a new, brave, nuanced approach to talking about women's mental health. It is an intense and personal story that taps into a universal truth about how the world responds to complicated young women -- Scarlett Curtis
Poignant, honest and triumphantly funny . . . A compelling and heartbreaking story * New York Times Book Review *
A cool, elegant and unexpectedly funny memoir * The Times *
Memorable and stirring . . . Fascinating. A powerful examination not only of Kaysen's own imperfections but of those of the system that diagnosed her * Vogue *
Not since Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim * Time *
Intelligent and painful * Guardian *
Girl, Interrupted is superb, poignant and more powerful for its lack of romantic inflation, whining, or self-congratulation * Scotland on Sunday *



Book Information
ISBN 9781860497926
Author Susanna Kaysen
Format Paperback
Page Count 192
Imprint Virago Press Ltd
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 158g
Dimensions(mm) 207mm * 152mm * 13mm