Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness

(Paperback)

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______________________ 'A beautifully written account of postpartum psychosis, and the ties, blessings and burdens of family' - NIGELLA LAWSON SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD SHORTLISTED FOR THE JHALAK PRIZE *Observer Book of the Week* *A Guardian Memoir of the Year 2020* *Harpers Bazaar 10 Women Who Will Shape What You Watch, See and Read in 2020* ______________________ Striking and original' - Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times 'Completely devastating. Completely heartbreaking' - Daisy Johnson ______________________ Catherine Cho's son was three months old when she and her husband left home to introduce him to their families. Catherine herself could never have envisaged how the trip would end for her - surfacing in an involuntary psychiatric ward, separated from her husband and child, unable to understand who she was, or remember how she got there. In her two weeks on the ward, Catherine turned to her notebook to reconstruct who she was, piece by piece, from the fragments of her life as they drifted back to her. The result is this powerful exploration of psychosis and motherhood, at once intensely personal, yet holding within it a universal experience - of how we love, live and understand ourselves in relation to each other. ______________________ 'A haunting, eloquent evocation of becoming a stranger to yourself' Observer

Reviews

Cho's intense, poginant book exists in a category of its own * i paper *
Cho weaves fractured memoir with Korean history and culture in a raw exploration of mental illness * Observer *
A courageous and powerful book * Times Literary Supplement *
A brave, brilliant exploration of madness and motherhood * Harper's Bazaar *
Captivating ... A disturbing and masterfully told memoir, but it's also an important one that pushes back against powerful taboos * New York Times Book Review *
This striking story of motherhood and psychosis grips ... One of the many fascinating things about this beautifully written book is that it asks us to consider what counts as normal behaviour and what doesn't ... A highly accomplished memoir. Cho deftly weaves the strands of her experience to create something striking and original -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * The Times *
A brilliantly frightening memoir about Chos two weeks on the psychiatric ward, elegantly interwoven with tales from her past ... [Cho writes] herself into motherhood and into a form of sanity that does not leave behind the insights enabled by psychosis. -- Lara Feigel * Guardian *
In honest and intricate detail, Inferno traverses between past traumas and present-day experiences * Evening Standard *
Utterly brilliant: poetic, truthful, frightening, clever. I held my breath at both the power of the prose and the writers unflinching honesty -- Christie Watson, author of The Language of Kindness
A viscerally raw and startlingly honest account of the authors journey into motherhood. A must-read for those looking to understand one of the darkest corners of the female experience -- Leah Hazard, author of Hard Pushed: A Midwife's Story
A powerful and poignant book. The difficult and haunting brutality of both psychosis and relationships was so beautifully and honestly portrayed -- Bev Thomas, author of A Good Enough Mother
Triumphant * Cosmopolitan *
Insightful and shocking * Stylist *
Completely devastating. Completely heartbreaking. Written in luminous, spiralling prose -- Daisy Johnson, author of Everything Under
A fierce, brave, glittering book that charts with unflinching honesty the shift from one reality to another and the family ghosts that without always knowing it we all carry -- Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Compelling and exquisitely written. Catherine Chos eye-opening memoir took me into a world I knew nothing about. She communicates her experience with such startling clarity, I felt I was right there with her. Exceptional -- Ruth Jones
Utterly compelling and beautifully written, Inferno is one of the bravest and most beautiful books I have ever read -- Alice Feeney
Inferno does just as the title suggests, it throws you into the flames of the author's psychosis so that you are in there with her, fighting for your next breath. I've rarely read such a powerful account of madness. Gripping, chilling and ultimately hopeful, this is one not to miss -- Lisa Jewell
I was hooked from the very start ... It is at heart a love story, but one in which unimaginable, wonderfully depicted, mental torture intrudes. In sharing this pain, and exploring its cultural and other causes, Catherine Cho does a great service to the cause of breaking down stigma surrounding mental ill health ... A beautiful book -- Alastair Campbell

Author Bio

Catherine Cho gave birth to her son in 2017. Six months later, she would find herself in an involuntary psych ward, separated from her husband and child. Catherine was diagnosed with a rare form of postpartum psychosis that affects 12 in 1000 women. Catherine works in publishing. Originally from the United States, she's lived in New York and Hong Kong, and she currently lives in London. @Catkcho