Pharmakon

Pulling no punches in its 150 pages, Pharmakon is the story of an explosion, of the moment depression blew up the life the author thought she knew and settled in her body. But Pharmakon isn’t a sad book; it is testimony, written with humour and intimacy by one of Spain’s most singular voices, one that deftly combines wit, eccentricity, and warmth. Far from shrinking from taboos, Sánchez grabs hold of her depression and dredges it for the whys and hows, excavating her memory, behaviour, and craters of the mind: here there is infancy and the family home, youth at school in Mallorca and in the fields of Castile; psychiatrists who save and pills that bring her back to life; there are dreams, nightmares, and desires. And books, lots of books—some that serve to escape and others to understand what was happening in her head—because for Sánchez, literature is comfort, quest, and salvation. Pharmakon is an insight, from one of Spain’s most singular voices, into the experience of depression and recovery.

‘Her approach gives us a much more compelling account of depression and what it really means to someone suffering from it, as, sadly, all too many people do.’ —THE MODERN NOVEL BLOG.

‘That the essay is so eloquent and engaging shows the skill of the author despite the constraints of their illness. A moving and important read for our times.’ —NEVER IMITATE BOOK BLOG.

‘Her prose shines with images of surprising originality, novel comparisons and poetic glimmers […] an exciting and compelling literary chronicle of pain and unease which, happily, does not become a simplified, sorry tale of suffering.’ —SANTOS SANZ VILLANUEVA.

‘The reader is left with the feeling of having had access to some of the most intimate and vulnerable thoughts of a person, shared through reflections full of humility and empathy.’ —PALOMA ABAD, VOGUE.