Please join us to celebrate “launch day” with midcoast Maine writer Judy Sandler as she debuts her memoir, What Kind of Mother, the powerful story that reckons with her son's descent into severe mental illness. What appeared to be substance use disorder in high school later became a dual diagnosis as bipolar disorder emerged. Judy’s son grew disillusioned with prescribed pharmaceuticals and participated in a residential treatment program that assisted people in forgoing medication altogether. However, the program ultimately ejected him for the very behaviors that medicine once managed. What Kind of Mother chronicles Judy's initial denial of her truth, her painful awakening to mental illness in her family, and her eventual acceptance that she cannot save her son—only he can save himself.

Joining Judy in conversation will be Maine author (Landslide, Elsy Come Home, The Foremost Good Fortune) Susan Conley.

“What Kind of Mother is a poignant, brilliantly-written evocation of what it means to come to terms with a child's addiction and mental illness, and in the process one's own struggles and history overcoming secrecy and shame, and how they conspire to destroy families from within. Absolutely unforgettable—this is a story that will stay with me forever. "
—Elissa Altman, author