Manic depression can be a savagely destructive illness which causes havoc in the lives of sufferers and those around them. It can also be an illness suffered in agonising silence, because it's difficult for those not directly involved to understand and because it carries with it all the pejorative connotations of a mental illness.

Kay Redfield Jamison suffers from manic depression and her book, An Unquiet Mind, is remarkable for its candid account of the illness and its invaluable insights into the mysteries and terrors of the manic depressive mind.

Her first inkling that she had a problem did not occur until she was 17 years old. Since then, she has battled with an illness which at times threatened to overwhelm her - and managed to pursue an academic career and become an international authority on manic depressive illness. She is now professor of psychiatry in the school of medicine at one of America's best known universities, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

Although the subject matter is distressing, this is by no means a depressing book. It's exceptionally well written and the story is told vividly and with humour and frankness. It's also a hopeful book which shows how the illness can be brought under control and it contains rich insights into emotional crises which have universal application. Above all, however, it's the fascinating and courageous account of one woman's survival in the face of overwhelming odds.

An Unquiet Mind is published by Picador.