a valuable contribution to the conversation SUNDAY TIMES Brings a difficult and sensitive subject out of the darkness and into the light - MICHAEL PALIN Full of wisdoms and warmth - NATHAN FILER A tender, candid, inspiring book about depression SUNDAY EXPRESS Matt Haig is astounding - STEPHEN FRY Reasons to Stay Alive is wonderful. * Maybe the most important book I've read this year - SIMON MAYO A life-saving book - AMANDA CRAIG Warm and engaging, and shot through with humour. He teaches us to celebrate the small joys and moments of peace that life brings, and reminds us that there are always reasons to stay alive. Speaking as his present self to his former self in the depths of depression, Matt is adamant that the oldest clich is the truest-there is light at the end of the tunnel. Above all, his humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope. Matt's frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Everyone's lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does.

And eventually, he learned to appreciate life all the more for it. Reasons to Stay Alive is Matt's inspiring account of how, minute by minute and day by day, he overcame the disease with the help of reading, writing, and the love of his parents and his girlfriend (and now-wife), Andrea. Matt Haig's accessible and life-affirming memoir of his struggle with depression, and how his triumph over the illness taught him to live Like nearly one in five people, Matt Haig suffers from depression.

Reasons to stay alive pages