The novel's protagonist is 28-year-old Grace Bernard, a young woman who kills off the family of her millionaire father as revenge for his abandonment of her dead mother and herself as a baby. Then I swiftly grew to love that peace; the sense of giving my mind a rest for a while and just letting my body take over. I read Piranesi by Susanna Clarke for a Women’s Prize for Fiction podcast that I was doing and again, sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason but that was a book that just stayed in my head for weeks afterwards. She began going through disassociation – a frightening symptom of anxiety that makes sufferers feel disconnected from their environments.

With How to Kill Your Family hitting shelves this summer, Bella sat down with MC to talk crime fiction, writing female psychopaths and the role reading plays in her life.When I was trapped in a fug of anxiety and depression in my early 20s, disassociation made it feel as though the people around me were actors in a bad reality show. The first chapter or so is excellent, the author describing how running cured her anxieties in a way that therapy and meds never did. I’m giving it 3 stars rather than 4 because a) I already run so the stuff about the benefits of running wasn’t new to me, b) I run and don’t find it as groundbreaking as Mackie claims it to be (but then I haven’t had the same life experiences as her which is likely why) and c) the book was a little repetitive at times. To access your ebook(s) after purchasing, you can download the free Glose app or read instantly on your browser by logging into Glose. It also felt like it could have been condensed into a shorter book as essentially her advice is to run and the other people she asked agreed too.

I developed OCD tics – swallowing whenever I had a bad or negative thought, blinking, even more disgustingly, spitting – as if to rid bad feelings from my body as quickly as possible. Her main point — that physical exercise does wonders for both body and soul, that it can mitigate or cure many mental health problems — is exhilarating and inspiring, but she fails to string the narrative sections into a cohesive flow, instead giving us a slog of chapters that all seem to be making the same point. So I stopped reading true crime and I started reading lots of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers and all of these brilliantly intricately plotted things instead. It’s his memoir about being in the care system and for such a horrifying story, he is again so full of empathy and kindness - it’s astonishing.

As we can notice, not the entire obstacles that hinder people from running can be stopped by just willpower. For the first 100 pages I didn’t highlight anything or really think this book was too profound , just an enjoyable read. I don’t think anything can cure anxiety, but running keeps mine in check and it’s a tool in a toolbox of a few things that I can employ. Rather, she concentrated on her feet hitting the sidewalk, on the people she needed to avoid hitting, and the pain in her legs.

The pills helped, and I was able to look at myself in a mirror again without wondering who was looking back at me. So, the joy in being able to read again was immense and I think it’s really nice that my book has come out this summer because it is an escapist read.

I felt stagnant, aware that I had to endure these painful emotions, but also worried I might never feel truly better. I had so many 'yes that's how I've felt' moments and it made me realise that taking regular medication to keep an overthinking brain on an even keel is nothing to be ashamed of, plus I really thought about my other coping strategies and mood boosters, which, in case you're interested, for me are any of the following:- Walking my dogs, a gym workout, kitchen disco and baking. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. I also feel that there were bits glossed out on - about food, about her strength training, all alluded to in a few sentences and then moved on. I’d say well over half of this book goes into almost excruciating detail about the authors mental health and trails of irrational thoughts, to the point where it reads more as a mental health book than anything to do with running.

So I’ve actually screwed myself with that because I never considered it before and now because of something I wrote myself, I’m terrified. I like that she acknowledges that running is a helpful tool, not something that will solve everything.When coffee came, the husband whispered something to the wife, who hissed back: “It’s not the coffee, it’s the last 25 years.