Is There No Place on Earth for Me?

Summary

A year-long, intimately reported portrait of a young woman with schizophrenia as she cycles through hospitals, halfway houses, and the streets of New York. Sheehan embedded with her subject for extended periods, transcribing conversations and medical records to render the lived experience of severe mental illness with rare granularity. The book became a touchstone in debates over deinstitutionalization and the fragmented care system that replaced it.