Out of the Dark by Linda Caine and Robin Royston

Out of the Dark

Format:	Paperback
Pages:	384
Published:	April 1, 2004
ISBN:	978-0593047347

My Book Review Rating:

Synopsis

Linda Caine is a contented wife and mother who should have nothing to feel depressed about. But a darkness begins to cloud her thoughts and she starts to have strange flashbacks. She calls suicide her friend and decides that if it all gets to much she will simply drive her car off the side of a cliff so her family thinks her death was accidental. When it all gets too much Linda drives off in her car, but her concerns for her family’s welfare stop her from following through with her plan.

Admitting that she has a problem Linda is introduced to Robin Royston, a psychiatrist who will become her friend and guide on a journey that spans nearly four years. Linda’s recollections of her childhood and adolescence uncover glimpses of horrific events that her mind has chosen to bury. Robin is torn between helping Linda to recall these memories in the hope that the cathartic effect will release her from her depression and suicidal thoughts, while knowing that unleashing the events that scarred her childhood could have an even more devastating effect on his patient.

Fiction or non-fiction?

Out of the Dark is the true story of Linda’s battle with depression

Why did you decide to read this book?

It’s been on the bookshelf for a few years now so I decided to dust it off and read it as part of the Memorable Memoir challenge.

What did you like about this book?

I’m not sure it is possible to actually ‘like’ this book; the subject matter is all to horrific. That said it is very well written, with both Linda and Robin acting as storytellers as they recall the journey from their own perspectives. It actually reads like a psychological detective story and at times you can forget that these awful events really happened.

If you have a friend or loved one who suffers with depression and you want an insight into the thoughts they could be experiencing then you could benefit from reading this book.

About the author

Linda Caine was born in Zimbabwe, Africa, and was raised in Zimbabwe and Zambia. Apart from a fifteen month period during which she and her father opened an African Art Gallery in Los Angeles, she lived in Africa until 1976, at which time she and her family immigrated to England. Linda, her husband, and two teenage children then immigrated to the United States in June 1992. The fact that her grandfather (who joined his pioneer brother in Zimbabwe – which was, at that time, Southern Rhodesia – in 1889) was American has made ‘returning’ to America to live very special to her, and she and her family are now happily settled in California.