The Balancing Pole

Margo, a gifted young painter and mother of two young children, confronts the depressive lows and the manic highs of bipolar illness. She is hospitalized and seems to recover, but the family is wary. The story is told through Margo's voice and through the voices of her husband, her sister, her doctor and her oldest child. She returns to her painting finally and realizes that she cannot put her sickness behind her, but must manage it for life.

Review Highlights

There are moments in this novel, truly chilling moments, when the reader finds himself suddenly bereft of certainty, surrounded by signals and urgencies he cannot decode–when he feels acutely the heroine's own spilling madness...

...Ann McLaughlin has written a deeply moving, adroitly embroidered novel. We care for all these people and know them well. We sense profoundly Margo's helplessness and the helplessness of those around her.
–The Washington Post

The novel treats a terrifying subject with wonderful lucidity in a narrative of spare and compelling elegance.
– Jill Ker Conway, The Road from Coorain

Read an interview with Ann on the Balancing Pole >>

Ordering Information

The Balancing Pole is available at good bookstores everywhere. It can also be ordered through John Daniel & Co. by calling 800-662-8351 or by using their online form. Click here for information and to go to the form.