Setting the Wire is a memoir of postpartum psychosis and a meditation on containment: what we hold and what holds us together. A lyric exploration of motherhood, mental illness, and familial ties, Sarah Townsend’s debut work weaves together personal anecdote, film, music, visual art, and psychology. Setting the Wire is a visceral reflection on the experience of fragmentation as a young psychotherapist and new mother.
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Click to listen to Sarah's podcast with Sheila Hamilton
"This is truly one of the most beautiful conversations we've had about the experience of psychosis and what it means to lose touch with reality. Sarah Townsend tenderly examines the terrifying experience of postpartum psychosis through art, film, psychology and explains why love and connection is key to finding ground again."
"Taut, lyrical, wise writing.”
– Claire Dederer, author of Love and Trouble
"Townsend drops us masterfully into a state of mind almost over the edge but never completely."
– Theo Pauline Nestor, author of Writing Is My Drink
“This memoir has . . . water and earth. Body and mind. Something like ‘a shard’ between.”
– Bhanu Kapil
Order your copy here.