The Snipers We Couldn't See: A Memoir of Growing Up with My Mother's Schizophrenia

Karen Comba's mother was brilliant. She was also schizophrenic. It is the 1950s when Karen's father, Richard, returns from the Korean War in time to marry Evelyn, his high school sweetheart. He is a talented farmer; she is a brilliant teacher. Together, they sow the seeds of their own American dream. But on this thriving farm in rural Nebraska, a dark secret begins to take hold. Karen was four when her mother first saw bullet holes scattered across the eastern side of their home. More frightening still was the fact that no one else could see them. The Snipers We Couldn't See is Karen Comba's incredible true story of growing up the eldest daughter of a mentally ill mother. It is a memoir of rare power, a harrowing and intimate portrait of the far-reaching, generational effects of severe mental illness. With determination and searing honesty, Karen's story of survival is as chilling as it is redemptive. The Snipers We Couldn't See is both heartbreaking and triumphant. Above all, this must-read memoir is a rugged and durable love story for anyone who's ever known the pains of mental illness.