She was lucky to find support eventually, and now in her mid-20s, she's doing great, but her parents are still in denial about her condition.

The young woman suffered from mental illness (I think she was bipolar), and when she was afflicted in her teens, she found it very hard to get any real help. Indeed, not long after listening to it, I was telling my sister about it and she related a story she'd just heard from a young couple at a wedding she attended. I found the story touching and surprisingly still relevant. So they decide they have to do something, and that's what the book is about.

As her friends become increasingly concerned, they reach out to the adults around them: Lisa's parents, the school counsellor, their parents, but no one seems willing to help Lisa. She reaches out to her parents, but they refuse to believe there is anything wrong, choosing to see her behaviour as attention seeking. Her behaviour fluctuates and at first, the main signs are her dark moods and outbursts. Good on her! The story is about Lisa, an all-American girl - pretty, bright, confident - who is experiencing the onset of mental illness. I looked her up and while she's still acting, she also has a lovely pottery line! You can find samples of it on the Kay Lenz Facebook Fan Page. I looked but couldn't find anything else narrated by her, but like any great actor, she's a master at providing that feeling/inflection that brings dialogue to life. She has a lovely voice with a bit of huskiness to it, and she's a natural as a reader. The girls talk about musical groups and actors who aren't well-known today - although I suppose Paul Newman is still remembered, but is he remembered as a sex symbol? When this book came out, Paul Newman was a real hunk and soooo many of us were totally crushing on him. She also starred in Breezy with the still dreamy but much too old for her Bill Holden. It had an all star cast and Kay Lenz, who played Lisa, was lovely. It was one of those books everyone was reading - along with I Never Promised You A Rose Garden. I remember this book from when it was first released way back in the 70s, I think, or perhaps late 60s.

Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld