ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT: A Parent's Quest to Understand Depression and Bipolar Disorder in His Children

Raeburn writes, "[T]here is no manual for taking care of a child with a psychiatric ailment," and it's crucial that readers of this soul-baring memoir know this isn't meant to be one. Raeburn fully discloses the daily struggles he faces with his children—one bipolar, the other chronically depressed—but what emerges is less about them than about him. He is the center of the narrative—a pragmatic journalist with an anger problem and a failed marriage who wants what's best for his children, but like most parents is groping in the dark for what that is. Honorably, Raeburn publicly acknowledges his thwarted search for parenting solutions. This work is, in some ways, his extended apology to his children for this failing. But the book serves a public good, too: it will remind parents of children with mental illness that they aren't alone in their exhausting quest to find adequate health care, fight insurance companies and love unconditionally. In fact, they're part of a growing community of parents scrambling to get their children the few resources that exist. The book, though focused on the personal, does have larger political implications. Unfortunately Raeburn, a former Business Week science and medicine writer, isn't adept at weaving the broader importance into his smaller story. When he incorporates research or sociological observation, it feels segmented and distracting. Raeburn's greatest gift is his brave honesty. He challenges all parents to take responsibility and claim their part in their children's pain. Agent, Beth Vesel. (May 11)

Forecast: Raeburn's book is sure to attract attention. The galley cover features a "Dear Bookseller" letter from Gerald Howard, Broadway's v-p, executive editor, and the book has received advance praise from Andrew Solomon ( The Noonday Demon) and Mary Pipher ( Reviving Ophelia).