This renowned journalist's classic Pulitzer Prize winning investigation of schizophrenia—now reissued with a new postscript—follows a flamboyant and fiercely intelligent young woman as she struggles in the throes of mental illness.

"Sylvia Frumkin" began showing signs of schizophrenia in her late teens. The next seventeen years of her life were spent in and out of mental institutions. Reporter Susan Sheehan followed Sylvia for almost a year and became immersed in her subject's life: talking with her, observing her, listening to her monologues, sitting in on consultations with doctors—even, for a period, sleeping in the bed next to her in a mental hospital. With Sheehan, we become witness to Sylvia's psychotic episodes, her unpredictable antics, and—through flashback—her formative childhood. The resulting book—now with a postscript that details Sylvia's later years—is filled with vivid accounts and biting humor, at once harrowing, humanizing, moving, and unforgettable.