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Saint Jude
When committed to an upscale group home outside Asheville, North Carolina, eighteen-year-old Taylor Drysdale pretends that her bipolar disorder is under control and that she will leave soon, but relationships with her fellow residents may hold the key to real recovery.
171 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
About the author
Dawn DeAnna Wilson
10 books17 followersOriginally from Weaverville, a small town near Asheville, NC, she wrote her first story when she was five and her first poem
was published when she was in 8th grade. In 1986, the publication of her short story in Prism, a magazine for young authors, led to an appearance on "CBS Morning News."
Wilson earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studied creative writing under authors Doris Betts and Bland Simpson. She earned her master's
degree in English with a concentration in creative writing from
East Carolina University.
Her first novel, "Saint Jude," was listed in "The Big Book of Teen Reading Lists: 100 Great, Ready-to-Use Book Lists for Educators, Librarians, Parents, and Teens" by Nancy Keane.
She resides in Eastern North Carolina.
was published when she was in 8th grade. In 1986, the publication of her short story in Prism, a magazine for young authors, led to an appearance on "CBS Morning News."
Wilson earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she studied creative writing under authors Doris Betts and Bland Simpson. She earned her master's
degree in English with a concentration in creative writing from
East Carolina University.
Her first novel, "Saint Jude," was listed in "The Big Book of Teen Reading Lists: 100 Great, Ready-to-Use Book Lists for Educators, Librarians, Parents, and Teens" by Nancy Keane.
She resides in Eastern North Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 5, 2012
I'm waffling on this book. The beginning felt slightly sloppy and contrived, and the ghastly lack of careful proofreading nearly turned me off to it completely. That being said, I felt that the ending was slightly redeeming.
Have to say I HATE the cover they chose. Why is it that they feel the need to go cheap and crappy on ebook covers? *sigh*
Have to say I HATE the cover they chose. Why is it that they feel the need to go cheap and crappy on ebook covers? *sigh*
March 27, 2020
This book just wasn't well written. It relied heavily on dialogue, which often fell flat. Sometimes I had no idea what was going on in a scene, either because of poor punctuation (holy cow, the lack of proofreading) or because it unclearly bounced between the present and flashback. The plot meandered and the pacing was all over the place. It gets an extra star because it found a little bit of a rhythm towards the end (despite dropping in a major development towards the end and never resolving it).
July 28, 2013
This is one of those books I've stumbled across when browsing Amazon for cheap / free Kindle titles. The slightly eerie cover image drew me to the book and the blurb pulled me in further so I hit that lovely little 'buy now' button.
Saint Jude's is a way-station for troubled teens. Specialising in adolescent mental illness, the group home takes in upper middle class teenagers like Taylor, whose Mom can no longer handle her Bipolar diagnosis. Taylor's lucky. The only experience she has of Psychiatric facilities is the plush ward on the fourth floor of a private hospital, and now the "family" environment of Saint Jude, governed by Big Daddy, the teens therapist and Big Momma, a sort of housekeeper, come psychiatric nurse.
The teens are all dealing with their own problems: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, and yet their lives have become entwined, they've been forced together by the stigma of mental illness and the pain they each feel inside their own fragile minds. Isolated from the "real world" the teens tick along, riding the waves of their mental disorders waiting to turn sixteen so they can leave.
Until Dalton arrives. A replacement for Big Daddy, Dalton is a breath of fresh air in the stale therapeutic environment and he attempts to turn the teens lives around with shall we say non-traditional techniques and a new approach to therapy.
Meanwhile, as Taylor begins to grow closer to the charismatic Blaine, she puts her own recovery on the line to become the person she thinks he wants to be. And when he leaves Saint Jude's for good, the fine thread that had been holding her together finally breaks.
This novel encompasses the darkness of a mental illness diagnosis and the brightness of recovery. It's a must-read for anybody going through a similar situation or really for anybody who just likes a bloody good teen protagonist and a plot that deals with strong, heart-wrenching issues without simply skimming the surface.
4/5 - purely because the copy I read could have done with some editing and grammatical tweaks.
You can find my reviews and other bookish ramblings at my blog
Saint Jude's is a way-station for troubled teens. Specialising in adolescent mental illness, the group home takes in upper middle class teenagers like Taylor, whose Mom can no longer handle her Bipolar diagnosis. Taylor's lucky. The only experience she has of Psychiatric facilities is the plush ward on the fourth floor of a private hospital, and now the "family" environment of Saint Jude, governed by Big Daddy, the teens therapist and Big Momma, a sort of housekeeper, come psychiatric nurse.
The teens are all dealing with their own problems: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, and yet their lives have become entwined, they've been forced together by the stigma of mental illness and the pain they each feel inside their own fragile minds. Isolated from the "real world" the teens tick along, riding the waves of their mental disorders waiting to turn sixteen so they can leave.
Until Dalton arrives. A replacement for Big Daddy, Dalton is a breath of fresh air in the stale therapeutic environment and he attempts to turn the teens lives around with shall we say non-traditional techniques and a new approach to therapy.
Meanwhile, as Taylor begins to grow closer to the charismatic Blaine, she puts her own recovery on the line to become the person she thinks he wants to be. And when he leaves Saint Jude's for good, the fine thread that had been holding her together finally breaks.
This novel encompasses the darkness of a mental illness diagnosis and the brightness of recovery. It's a must-read for anybody going through a similar situation or really for anybody who just likes a bloody good teen protagonist and a plot that deals with strong, heart-wrenching issues without simply skimming the surface.
4/5 - purely because the copy I read could have done with some editing and grammatical tweaks.
You can find my reviews and other bookish ramblings at my blog
February 8, 2017
While written a while ago, this is a very good look in the first person at what it's like to have a mental illness as a teen. I worked at an inpatient psych. facility for 27 years and this really resonated with me. Despite its age, it's still worth adding to a library collection for teens who have a mental illness or have friends with one.
April 3, 2012
I would suggest this to the people I work with. The story is told from the point of view of a bipolar teenage girl. Points out there are many sides to every story.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews