Sorrow and Bliss

A Novel

By: Meg Mason

Narrated by: Emilia Fox

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction!

""Brilliantly faceted and extremely funny. . . . While I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realized that I wanted to send it to everyone I know."" — Ann Patchett

The internationally bestselling sensation, a compulsively readable novel—spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark, and tender—that Emma Straub has named one of her favorite books of the year

Martha Friel just turned forty. Once, she worked at Vogue and planned to write a novel. Now, she creates internet content. She used to live in a pied-à-terre in Paris. Now she lives in a gated community in Oxford, the only person she knows without a PhD, a baby or both, in a house she hates but cannot bear to leave. But she must leave, now that her husband Patrick—the kind who cooks, throws her birthday parties, who loves her and has only ever wanted her to be happy—has just moved out.

Because there’s something wrong with Martha, and has been for a long time. When she was seventeen, a little bomb went off in her brain and she was never the same. But countless doctors, endless therapy, every kind of drug later, she still doesn’t know what’s wrong, why she spends days unable to get out of bed or alienates both strangers and her loved ones with casually cruel remarks.

And she has nowhere to go except her childhood home: a bohemian (dilapidated) townhouse in a romantic (rundown) part of London—to live with her mother, a minorly important sculptor (and major drinker) and her father, a famous poet (though unpublished) and try to survive without the devoted, potty-mouthed sister who made all the chaos bearable back then, and is now too busy or too fed up to deal with her.

But maybe, by starting over, Martha will get to write a better ending for herself—and she’ll find out that she’s not quite finished after all.

Lovely story

I really enjoyed this story. A very unique love story. It did however take quite a while for me to stay interested. I had to start over listening. I think this was due to the monotone reader. I detected very little inflection in the voice throughout the story.

so much more than a book "about mental illness"

This book! This performance!! Both were so beautifully done! I was skeptical at first, but quickly fell in love with this story, the writing, the characters, and the execution of it all. Emilia Fox's performance made this book better than a movie or show or podcast or any other form of media entertainment. Such a tender, relatable, heart-wrenching listen. Laughter and tears.

I laughed, I cried, I couldn’t stop listening

This is the most moving, sad, yet hilarious book I’ve listened to in a long time. Anyone who’s ever suffered from any form of despair, anxiety, sadness or hormonal rage will find this book deeply endearing. The relationships are genuine, complex and admirable.

A difficult story, written just beautifully

This ranks among the most moving books I’ve ever read… it will stay with me a long time.
The performance was perfect.

Unique

In all honesty I’m unsure how I feel about the book but I can share that despite several attempts to throw in the towel I continued listening and finished the book.
I think what I most liked about the book were the specific, well-written disturbing thought process(es) that plagued the lead character and the impact of her actions on others (as a result of her thoughts).
I know the book describes the mental health disorder as “z” but I think it is clear that there were layers of pathology that cannot be attributed to one diagnosis.
The book is disturbing but it offers some insight into living with years of mental illness that is not treated.