Hidden Valley Road
Robert Kolker's 2020 nonfiction book tells the extraordinary story of the Galvin family of Colorado Springs, where Don and Mimi Galvin raised twelve children between the 1940s and 1960s, and six of their sons were eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia. Kolker moves between intimate family history and the larger scientific story, showing how the Galvins' suffering unfolded inside their home, complete with abuse, violence, and heartbreak, while researchers began studying families like theirs to understand the genetic and biological roots of the disease. The Galvins became important subjects for scientists seeking clues to schizophrenia's causes and possible treatments. Reported with care and narrative skill, the book balances the human tragedy of the family with the slow progress of medical understanding. It became a bestseller and a celebrated work of narrative nonfiction.
What you might want to know about Hidden Valley Road
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A single mid-century American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, becomes a window into the science and tragedy of mental illness.
Yes. It tells the real story of the Galvin family of Colorado, in which six of twelve children were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and how they aided scientific research into the disease.
Yes. Alongside the family's story, Kolker traces how researchers studied families like the Galvins to investigate the genetic and biological roots of schizophrenia.
Hidden Valley Road was written by Robert Kolker, published in 2020 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Hidden Valley Road is 400 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Hidden Valley Road takes most readers 6 to 9 hours to finish.
Hidden Valley Road is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.