![]() ![]() Her minor characters aren’t neglected either – Martha’s fertile sister contends with former business associate Peregrine for my favourite both add oodles of life to the story. This is fine, complex writing and I lapped it up. At times her behaviour is truly appalling, yet Mason shows us her humanity and implies she’s also quite charismatic. We quickly come to understand her situation, after a “little bomb went off” in her head as a teenager and she began decades of medication based on wrong diagnoses. This is very much a character-driven novel, and in creating Martha, Mason has pulled a fullly-formed human out onto the page. Readers should note triggers for miscarriage, mental illness, emotional abuse, domestic violence, self medicating, and misdiagnosis. ![]() Mason writes with acerbic wit and observational skills to make relatively bleak situations zing with humour and life. We follow Martha as her long-suffering husband Patrick decides to leave her, and she stops to reflect on their history and how his departure came to be. Sorrow and Bliss is a wonderfully funny, heartfelt and devastating portrayal of the impact un- or misdiagnosed mental illness can have. ![]()
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