The Moon Is Broken: 2a Mother's True Story

With courage and unflinching candor, Connecticut family therapist Craig ( P.S. You'recq Not Listening ) details the emotional breakdowns suffered by her daughter Ann, which led to drug addiction, AIDS and death at age 34 in 1987. The eldest of four children, an accomplished student, would-be anthropologist and promising actress, Ann was first hospitalized, for suicidal impulses, as a senior in college; soon after her release she disappeared into Manhattan's East Village nightclub and drug culture from which her agonized mother periodically, and with limited success, sought to rescue her. Despite Craig's own professional skills, the help of consulting psychiatrists and the support of a devoted second husband, her efforts on Ann's behalf yielded only brief stints in detoxification programs, methadone maintenance and rare, tense reunions with the family. The dramatic impact and perspective of this restrained, heartfelt account are enhanced by revealing excerpts, often in poetry, from Ann's diaries. This is a powerful, wrenching testimony. (Feb.)