Sorrow and Bliss, published in 2020, is an unexpectedly beautiful novel about a woman living with mental health issues. The novel starts in medias res at a fortieth birthday celebration for Martha, our narrator. Her husband Patrick has arranged the entire party, and Martha would give anything to not be there; she doesn’t seem to want to be liked, and doesn’t seem to like anyone except for her sister. The opening vignette ends with Patrick leaving Martha, seemingly for good. Flash forward to Martha’s youth, and from here on, Martha narrates from the viewpoint of someone looking back at her own history trying to figure out where it all went wrong. She grows up relatively content in West London with her sweet-natured father, unpredictable mother, stalwart sister, and Patrick, a family friend always at the periphery. Then, at the age of seventeen, a little bomb goes off in her brain that affects her entire way of being. She doesn’t understand why she suddenly has intense bouts of cyclical depression and can’t seem to manage her emotions, and doctors struggle to find a diagnosis. For her entire early adulthood, Martha battles these brain storms and spends years trying to figure out who she is and why she finds it so hard to be “normal.” Martha’s journey is dark, hilarious, and ultimately redemptive, and I absolutely loved it.

Sorrow and Bliss is one of those books that you want to tell everyone about, but when you try to, all that comes out is, “It’s hard to explain, but trust me, it’s so good.” Plot summaries don’t seem to do the book justice, and I think it’s because the actual plot points aren’t what make this book special, it’s Martha’s indelible voice. Martha is hilarious, bewildering, endearing, and at times so horrible that I didn’t know whether I could like her anymore. But even when things got unbearably bleak, her voice pulled at me to keep reading; I couldn’t stop without letting her finish her story. Martha and her journey may be a lot to digest at times, but Mason writes with bracing wit and bighearted tenderness that soften the intensity of it all. I found myself laughing at loud one moment and having my heart absolutely wrecked in the next — if you’re looking for a book to make you feel, Sorrow and Bliss will do just that.

I’d recommend this book to…

• Anyone who appreciates a darkly comic narrator… it’s similar in tone to Joan is Okay by Weike Wang
• Anyone who’s interested in self-discovery, self-acceptance, and hopeful portrayals of mental health issues… it’s similar in theme to The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
• Anyone who wants an honest portrayal of young adulthood (even when it’s heartbreaking)… it’s similar in style to Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton