Glorious Rock Bottom: 'A shocking story told with heart and hope. You won't be able to put it down.' Dolly Alderton

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And then, a chink of light as the hard work begins - rehab; AA meetings; endless, tedious, painful self-reflection - a rollercoaster ride through self-acceptance, friendship, love and hope, to a joy and pride in staying sober that her younger self could never have imagined. Clearly addicts or alcoholics won't be reading this type of book, or probably any, they have other things to be doing with their time, as the book makes clear. p>The data controller is Headline Publishing Group Limited.

Being in a relationship with a person with an addiction can feel soul destroying, as the destructive behaviour can erode the trust in a relationship and cause long-lasting damage, I am pleased that Bryony was able to overcome it and turn things around between her and her partner. Her open, honest stories of the takeover and hold that alcohol and drugs had on her are really eye opening and at times uncomfortable, and I found myself crying reading her words on more than one occasion. And then, a chink of light as the hard work begins - rehab; twelve-step meetings; endless, tedious, painful self-reflection - a rollercoaster ride through self-acceptance, friendship, love and hope, to a joy and pride in staying sober that her younger self could never have imagined.I feel that this book paralleled some of my own struggle, when I suffered depression, I never thought it possible to enjoy the simple things in life, nor that I would find genuine interests, nor find contentment, as I gradually overcame it and started to heal, I discovered the beauty in the ordinary, daily life - I'm so thankful I held on. It's a story of an addict's struggles and triumphs, and how the wins often look like absolutely ordinary moments. p>Read about how we’ll protect and use your data in our Privacy Notice. However, they still remain somewhat trite and I can't help wanting a little more to elevate this book above others in the field.

Shame and guilt are universal, and Bryony’s sincerity shows us a way to look at our own lived experiences with compassion, without self-flagellation. I’d recommend it to anyone who has found themselves at a tremendous low point or feel alienated by the ‘rainbow and sparkle’ lives that people share on social media, or indeed in real life. In parts it's a very raw, open account of active addiction and the attitudes, behaviours and barriers that addicts put in place to deny their reality and avoid doing anything about it.The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. She is the presenter of the Mad World podcast and in 2016 she founded Mental Health Mates, now a global peer support network which encourages people with mental health issues to connect and get out of the house. Having lost people to alcoholism, I could find some familiar behaviours in her stories, but even more so, reading about the inner turmoil of an alcoholic was quite revealing and helpful in a sense. Her experiences at rehab shine a light on the hard work that those courageous enough to fight addiction face. Often wince-inducing, the memoir does not shy from describing the lows of her alcoholism and the impact on her family.

Shining a light on the deep connection between addiction and mental health issues, Glorious Rock Bottom is in turn, shocking, brutal, dark, funny, hopeful and uplifting. The inclusion of her internal monologue allows us to understand the nature of her relationship with alcohol. First Bryony Gordon faced her demons, then she fought them (and is still fighting-you’re always an addict and she’s thankfully in recovery now), and then she wrote it all down and revealed everything to the public. Never did I think I’d describe a book about alcoholism as “charming” but Gordon has such a way with words that I often found myself pulled into her life and her story in much the same way I assume booze pulled her in: with drama and a bit of a gamble.

I already adore this lady (I once ran past her during a 10k event and was so starstruck after following her for years, all I did was just shout "Bryony, I love you! In Glorious Rock Bottom Bryony opens up about a toxic twenty-year relationship with alcohol and drugs and explains exactly why hitting rock bottom - for her, a traumatic event and the abrupt realisation that she was putting herself in danger, time and again - saved her life.