HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD Inside the Mind of an American Family

This enthralling true story unfolds like a novel with narrator Sean Pratt playing all the parts. He gives a convincing performance of all the Galvins. His timing and subtle delivery bring the listener inside the minds—normal and abnormal—of this family of 12 children, half of whom suffer from schizophrenia. He reads the 45 short chapters with careful pacing and animates the bizarre history. The shocking facts—and the author uses neither composites nor invented scenes—of the six Galvin boys who developed serious mental disorders are told as character studies enhanced by revealing details. Intertwined are the evolution of the malady’s diagnosis and the progression of research that links schizophrenia to genetics. This empathic audiobook explores the toll that mental disease takes on a family. It is mesmerizing. A.D.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2020 Best Audiobook © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2020]