The Trick Is To Keep Breathing - Couverture souple

"A real achievement; its dialogue sparks and its voice is true. For Janice Galloway the trick is simply to keep writing" (Scotsman)

"This is like a Scottish Catcher in the Rye. You actually feel you’re inside this woman’s head, it is that visceral. And having experienced a downward spiral myself, I so admire her accuracy in every detail" (Alan Cumming New York Times)

"Claustrophobic but extraordinary" (Sunday Times)

"An account from the inside of a mind cracking up...its writing is as taut as a bowstring. From brilliant title to closing injunction, it hums with intelligence, clarity, wit; and, its heroine's struggle for order and meaning seduces our minds, exposes how close we all of us are to insanity. Joy, as Galloway's heroine reluctantly lets us know that she's called, is simply that dangerous step or two nearer the edge" (Listener)

"Distressing but immaculately written" (Observer)

'Resembles Tristram Shandy as rewritten by Sylvia Plath' New York Times Book Review

From the corner of a darkened room Joy Stone watches herself. As memories of the deaths of her lover and mother surface unbidden, life for Joy narrows – to negotiating each day, each encounter, each second; to finding the trick to keep living. Told with shattering clarity and wry wit, this is a Scottish classic fit for our time.

'Extraordinary' Sunday Times

See also: Morvern Callar