This is the heartbreaking story of a family of twelve children of whom six developed schizophrenia. Don and Mimi Galvin married in 1944, he a handsome military man and she the daughter of an aristocratic family. Don went on to earn a Ph.D. and served as a diplomat. A devout Catholic couple, Mimi and Don raised ten sons and finally two daughters. They seemed the all-American family but within the genes of six of their sons, a time bomb called schizophrenia ticked. The 1970s saw these six sons succumb to the disease that turned the family into a whirlwind of chaos. The two daughters experienced unimaginable abuse and violence at the hands of several of their mentally ill brothers. Mercifully three of the brothers and the two sisters do not suffer from mental illness. 

Parallel to the family’s story is that of Lynn DiLisi, a child psychiatrist and medical researcher, who studied the family closely in collaboration with genetic researchers. A medical breakthrough may yet result from their study of the Galvin family and their genetics. There are moments of redemption in this story that is narrated with great compassion. Christians will gain insight into the suffering of so many both within and outside the Church. Hidden Valley Road made the New York Times’ list of the top ten books of 2020.