The book is rare in recording the experience of mania and shows how the condition is at once terrifying and also profoundly creative, both tricking and treating the psyche.
In exploring its literary influence, Griffiths examines the Trickster role, and explores Shakespeare’s work for deft and telling descriptions of manic depression and traces its mercuriality through the character of Mercury. An intimate, raw journey, the book illuminates something of the universal human spirit.