The Episode: A True Story of Loss, Madness and Healing
The Episode by Mary Ann Kenny: Read the exclusive introduction now
My memoir, The Episode, incorporates all the big themes of death, madness, grief, love, resilience, and more besides. When I decided to write it, I wished more than anything else that I’d never suffered the traumatic experiences captured in the narrative. But the writer in me recognised that I had been gifted an incredible story, one that was stranger than any work of fiction I would ever have the imagination to invent, and one that I felt absolutely compelled to share with others.
Writing was painful, especially in the early stages when I needed to transform the narrative that I held inside into words on the page. I used to wonder which aspect of my story might prove too difficult for me to write about: the day my husband died; the terrible moment when I had to disclose to our children that their father was dead; my descent into psychosis; the contents of my distressed and grieving mind when I lost touch with reality; or my traumatic experiences of psychiatric treatment and of being assessed for risk while suffering in secret from a distressing physical ailment.
