October Child

By: Linda Boström Knausgård

Narrated by: Jane Weatherstone

From 2013 to 2017, Linda Boström Knausgård was periodically interned in a psychiatric ward where she was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy. As the treatments at this 'factory' progressed, the writer’s memories began to disappear.

What good is a writer without her memory?

This book, based on the author’s experiences, is an eloquent and profound attempt to hold on to the past, to create a story, to make sense and to keep alive ties to family, friends and even oneself. Moments from childhood, youth, marriage, parenting and divorce flicker during October Child. This is the story of one woman’s struggle against mental illness and isolation. It is a raw testimony of how writing can preserve and heal.

©2020 Linda Boström Knausgård (P)2021 World Editions

Critic reviews

“Swedish novelist Boström Knausgård brilliantly melds memoir and speculative nonfiction in her stirring account of the four years she spent in and out of a psychiatric ward.... Part fever-dream, part quest to retrieve her memories, Boström Knausgård’s account expertly plumbs the treacherous crevasses of a creative mind.” (Publishers Weekly)

“October Child is stunningly frank and urgently told. Linda Boström Knausgård writes with what appears to be a willingness to expose herself utterly. This makes for a painful and powerful book that asks complicated questions of its readers and acknowledges the impossibility of simple answers. An extraordinary work.” (Chris Power, author of Mothers: Stories)

"(Boström Knausgård's) first openly autobiographical book becomes an act of self-examination powerful enough to match if not surpass those of her ex-husband’s.” (The Guardian)