Growing up in a neighborhood of Catholic families, I knew a couple of very large families. I got to observe how there was a loss of privacy for the children, and the need to share everything, especially the commodities most desired by kids, attention and affection. Without it, kids seek it elsewhere. Even in my own family, if things were boring or stressful at home,I would latch onto another family for a time, experiencing a different way of life for awhile. The Galvin family of Colorado Springs were like most Catholic families of the sixties and seventies, with two exceptions; their size, with 12 children, and the fact that 6 of the 10 boys suffered from some sort of severe mental illness, mostly schizophrenia. As most Catholic families of the time, parents Mimi and Don were very invested in keeping up the appearance that all was well, in spite of the violence and disruption the children experienced as one after another child experienced repeated psychotic breakdowns and relapses.

The two youngest children, Margaret and Mary (she later changed her name to Lindsay), suffered greatly, forced to live with psychotic behavior everyday, endangering them, with no parent protecting them, acknowledging their feelings about what was happening, and as the story reveals, terribly abused and traumatized by this. The parents were very invested in appearing normal, maintaining this fantasy, denying as long as possible anything wrong, effectively failing to protect or nurture the younger children. For that matter, most of the boys suffered at the hands of their siblings, both healthy and unwell. The mother, Mimi, often sought to excuse the sick children’s behaviors, at the expense of the well children. The well children generally followed the same survival strategies, to stay away from the family, and liberate themselves from the home as soon as they could. Each well child tried to find their own way to cope with the trauma, forced to find their own nurturing, healthy relationships, and personal value apart from the family. Each had to find a way to parent themselves, since their own parents were overwhelmed with the sick children.

This book also traces the history of the scientific understanding of schizophrenia, from Freudian blaming of cold mothers, dysfunctional family relationships, brain chemistry and neuroanatomy, genetics and epigenetics. We meet several key figures in scientific research into schizophrenia from multiple disciplines, and how the uniqueness of the Galvin family, so many suffering in one family, as well as so many well, offered a great potential for research. We really feel how the Galvin parents tried to find treatments and answers, desperately grasping for the answer that would help get these boys back on track, to healthy happy lives. One can empathize with the sheer overwhelming nature of so much mental illness and the chaos it creates—there is only so much two parents can give or control, and we see how so many of the children suffered as a result.

The story of Mary, later self named Lindsay, is hopeful and inspirational. She suffered great trauma at the hands of her siblings, and with no parental support or nurturing had to have the resilience and strength of character to make her own way, find support and therapy that could heal herself and build a life. Most amazingly, while protecting herself and setting boundaries, she manages to re-connect with the family, and not only make peace, but offer love and needed assistance to her siblings, sick and well. She is a wonderful example of resilience, healing, and love.

I could not put this book down. It is a gripping, engrossing story. Many years ago, in the eighties, I had a 5 month internship assisting a group of schizophrenics who lived in a group home. They were well medicated, but I could see their detachment, as well as the physical symptoms of too many years on psychotropic drugs. This book gave me a much greater empathy and understanding for their suffering, and that of their families. I highly recommend this book.