The Glass Staircase

Heather Murray Tobias, The Glass Staircase: A book which demonstrates suffering and endurance, but not of the masochistic strain associated with the American confessional poets. These are poems of great love and caring, of self-abnegation, witnessing mental illness, supporting Professor Patrick McGorry’s inspirational EPPIC (Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre), experiencing the instability which is figured as a glass staircase, and depicting the analogy of necessary hospitalization with the refugee experience, multicultural Hungarian culture, and a range of mythical references. The poetry is passionate and insightful, owing much to lived events and the power of human recovery. It is quintessentially Australian and feminine – a trenchant retelling of a wrenching and educative journey. An important and accessible work, this book can be recommended to poets, to teachers, to parents, and to troubled teens.