Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

An award-winning memoir and instant bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, is the powerful account of one woman-s struggle to recapture her identity. When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she-d gotten there. Day An award-winning memoir and instant bestseller that goes far beyond its riveting medical mystery, is the powerful account of one woman-s struggle to recapture her identity.

When twenty-four-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she-d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: at the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk.

What happened? In a swift and breathtaking narrative, Cahalan tells the astonishing true story of her descent into madness, her family-s inspiring faith in her, and the lifesaving diagnosis that nearly didn-t happen.