IN THE SHADOW OF MADNESS

by Dolores Brandon
ISBN: 0-9652364-5-5 - 216 pages.

Dolores Brandon's book is a unique study in the poetry and intuitive psychological engagement of personal memoir. Brandon's in-depth emotional capacities are highlighted in the overall process of mourning for the losses suffered by those she loves and yet yearns to separate from. The reader can follow the path of grief and rebirth along with the author and find a language to express their own individual grief and love process.
-- Dr. Susan Kavaler-Adler, Executive Director, The Object Relations Institute For Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York, NY. Author of The Compulsion to Create (Routledge, 1993) and The Creative Mystique (Routledge, 1996)

This is not a bitter testimony. It is written in a style that alternates between free verse and dialogue of a play... -- Rochelle Holt: Poet/Critic/Writer

a sensitive, yet harrowing, exploration of what it was like growing up ... with a father in the grip of mental illness. -- Karen Malpede, playwright/screenwriter

Understanding and forgiveness, December 13, 2001
By Linda Getter (New York, NY)

Dolores Brandon has written a jewel. Using poetry, oral history and prose she communicates with depth and tension the joys and travails of her life with her family, most notably her father. Before manic depression or bi-polar disease was part of our collective vocabulary, Dolores experience spanned her father's ups and downs from everyday victories to down right fear. However, in this book Dolores manages to give each character a clear and resonant voice. She allows us to read her father's poetry and listen to her mother lullabies. She has also been able to forgive her father and understand her mother, which is something that eludes many of us. I was particularly fond of the way she brought to life the whole experience of growing up in the 50's. I was close to tears when I finished this book. Not from sadness but from that sense of communion that we always share but seldom tap into. It took courage, insight and understanding to write this book. I hope there will be more from Dolores Brandon.

Dolores Brandon Links

http://www.publicartinla.com/womens_salons/photos/brandon.html