‘Everything is broken and messed up and completely fine. ‘Martha,’ he said afterwards, lying next to me. He is her champion in his quiet, steady way and is often overlooked. He loves Martha but is often the one dealing with Martha’s (actually unnamed) mental illness. Poor Patrick, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. Martha ends up marrying her family friend, Patrick. They could not tell that for most of my adult life and all of my marriage I have been trying to become the opposite of myself. Her aunt, uncle and cousins also play key roles in her life and how she copes with her mental illness and juggles these relationships is what’s explored. She has a strong bond with her father and sister, Ingrid and a more complex one with her mother. Martha’s family are the people she is closest to. Opening sentence: At a wedding shortly after our own, I followed Patrick through the dense crowd at the reception to a woman who was standing by herself. It’s all about Martha’s relationship with her mental illness and how that, in turn, affects her relationships with the people in her life. From the first few pages I loved the tone and was totally captivated and emotionally invested by Martha and her story. Sorrow and Bliss is one of those books that I’d heard great things about and actually, wonderfully, did live up to all the buzz and accolades.
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