Will I love Hidden Valley Road?

Robert Kolker's book tells the unforgettable story of the Galvin’s, a Colorado family with twelve children—six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Through meticulous reporting and sensitive interviews with two of the daughters, Kolker weaves together the family's history with the evolving science of schizophrenia research.

The book reveals the heartbreaking toll mental illness takes on individuals and families while offering hope through scientific advancements. It is both a family saga and a medical mystery, painting a profound portrait of violence, love, loss, and resilience in the face of unimaginable challenges. Kolker’s book underlined that mental illness is a combination… show more.

While I love reading horror and mystery fiction, I also love nonfiction about the social sciences. I majored in psychology, and this book revived jargon and other details from my classes. It’s a biography and case study of the Galvin family, half of whose twelve children displayed schizophrenia during their lifetimes.

Kolker shares the family's struggles to help the symptomatic siblings cope with their illness while the remaining children feared becoming the next to succumb. Their story unfolds during the mid-20th century when stereotypes and prejudices defined schizophrenia, treatments were often ineffective, and mental illnesses were something shameful to be… show more.

In many ways, my book is a prologue to Robert Kolker’s extraordinary book. When Mike left our home, he moved to the Colorado State Hospital, in 1957, just a few years before the Galvin brothers began to rotate through the same wards. My mother dealt with the guilt and shame, stigma and chaos of one child with schizophrenia. The Galvins had ten boys and two girls, and six of the boys were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Unimaginable. I feel especially close to their story because I went to college in Colorado Springs. I rode my bike near the Galvin home on… show more.