Barking

By Lucy Sullivan. Published by Avery Hill Publishing. 

Hardcover, 128 pages, B&W, 2024 (originally published by Unbound in 2020)

A year after the death of her friend, Alix’s depression and grief still hound her in this personally-inspired graphic novel.
Loopy . . . cuckoo . . . stark raving. . . .

When the depression and grief Alix feels over the death of her friend overwhelm her, she’s institutionalized. But inside a psychiatric ward, things don’t get better for her – now she has nowhere to get away from her rapidly-spiraling thoughts. As Alix navigates disinterested attendants, group therapy, and isolation, she must build herself a new equilibrium and tame the black dog of her depression.

Inspired by her own struggles with mental health, Lucy Sullivan tells a powerful, emotional story about the problems that sometimes overwhelm us all – and the failures in the mental health system we depend on.