{{short description|Book by Robert Kolker}} {{Infobox book | name = Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family | image = Hidden Valley Road (Robert Kolker).png | alt = | caption = Cover of first edition | author = Robert Kolker | audio_read_by = Sean Pratt<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/566406/hidden-valley-road/ |title=Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker |website=Penguin Random House Audio |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref> | cover_artist = Air Force photo, 1961<ref name="Copyright">{{cite book|author=Robert Kolker|title=Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bxahDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT2|date=April 7, 2020|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-385-54377-4|page=2}}</ref><br>John Fontana (design)<ref name="Copyright"/> | country = United States | language = English | subjects = {{flatlist| * Galvin family * schizophrenia }} | publisher = Doubleday | pub_date = April 7, 2020 | media_type = Print (hardcover and paperback), e-book, audiobook | pages = 400 | awards = | isbn = 978-0-385-54376-7 | isbn_note = (hardcover) | oclc = 1148170726 | dewey = 616.89/80092 | congress = RC514 .K648 2020 | website = {{URL|hidden-valley-road.com}} }} '''''Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family''''' is a 2020 non-fiction book by Robert Kolker. The book is an account of the Galvin family of Colorado Springs, Colorado, a mid 20th-century American family with twelve children (ten boys and two girls), six of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia (notably all boys). The family became the subject of researchers investigating a genetic origin for schizophrenia.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566406/hidden-valley-road-by-robert-kolker/ |title=Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker |website=Penguin Random House |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://slate.com/culture/2020/04/hidden-valley-road-robert-kolker-interview-schizophrenia.html |title=Six Brothers With Schizophrenia Fascinated Researchers. A New Book Explores the Family's Trauma. |last=Miller |first=Laura |author-link=Laura Miller (writer) |date=April 8, 2020 |website=Slate |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2020/04/05/826695581/in-hidden-valley-road-a-familys-journey-helps-shift-the-science-of-mental-illnes |title=In 'Hidden Valley Road,' A Family's Journey Helps Shift The Science Of Mental Illness |last=Garcia-Navarro |first=Lulu |author-link=Lulu Garcia-Navarro |date=April 5, 2020 |website=Weekend Edition Sunday |publisher=NPR |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref>
The book was selected for the revival of Oprah's Book Club.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apnews.com/729a8af97adb8f7e6fd31c5fe56d09b0 |title=Winfrey chooses "Hidden Valley Road" for book club |last=Italie |first=Hillel |date=April 7, 2020 |website=Associated Press |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/books/author-interviews/hidden-valley-road-robert-kolker-oprah-book-club/ |title=Author Robert Kolker takes us inside ''Hidden Valley Road'', Oprah's latest book club pick |last=Rankin |first=Seija |date=April 7, 2020 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-04-07/hidden-valley-road-traces-schizophrenias-devastation-of-a-boomer-family |title=Schizophrenia devastated a family: Robert Kolker did their story justice |last=Tuttle |first=Kate |date=April 7, 2020 |website=Los Angeles Times |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.newsweek.com/oprah-winfrey-book-club-robert-kolker-1496642 |title=Oprah's Book Club Names Robert Kolker's 'Hidden Valley Road' the New Pick For April |last=Williams |first=Janice |date=April 7, 2020 |website=Newsweek |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref> It debuted at number one on the ''New York Times'' nonfiction bestseller list.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2020/04/26/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/ |title=Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction – Best Sellers |date=April 26, 2020 |website=The New York Times Book Review |accessdate=April 15, 2020}}</ref> The book was also named one of "The 10 Best Books of 2020" by ''The New York Times Book Review'' and as one of the year's most critically acclaimed non-fiction books.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2020-11-23|title=The 10 Best Books of 2020|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/23/books/review/best-books.html|access-date=2020-12-16|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Robert Kolker was originally approached by the two Galvin sisters, Margaret Galvin Johnson and Lindsay (née Mary) Galvin Rauch, to write about the family's struggle and ordeal; he used it as a backdrop to explore the medical research and understanding about mental illness. Kolker interviewed family matriarch Mimi Galvin as part of his research; she shared the various theories and rumors that had spread about their family and how they all struggled to get answers about the condition.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Rodrick|first=Stephen|date=2020-04-21|title=Inside the Bestselling Medical Mystery 'Hidden Valley Road'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/hidden-valley-road-robert-kolker-interview-986091/|access-date=2020-12-29|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
In 2024 the book was adapted to video for a 4-part mini-series on HBO called Six Schizophrenic Brothers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28959491/|title=Six Schizophrenic Brothers}}</ref>
Studies implicated two genes, SHANK2 and CHRNA7, which were passed on to the boys from their mother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stories/galvin-family-matriarch-stands-on-the-side-of-science|title='Six Schizophrenic Brothers' Family Teams With CU Researcher in Boosting Science Family in HBO Discovery docuseries helped fuel discoveries in CU School of Medicine professor's search for cure|author=Debra Melani|date=August 2, 2024}}</ref>
== Plot == ''Hidden Valley Road'' is a true story about the Galvin family, an American family from Colorado with twelve children, six of whom are diagnosed with schizophrenia. The eldest, Donald Galvin, was born in 1945, and the youngest, Mary (who later changed her name to Lindsay) was born in 1965. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten boys (Donald, James, Brian, Joseph, Matthew and Peter) were diagnosed with schizophrenia.<ref>{{Cite news |title=New book tells story of 6 brothers with schizophrenia and parents' quest to prove it wasn't 'bad mothering' {{!}} CBC Radio |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-13-2020-1.5567504/new-book-tells-story-of-6-brothers-with-schizophrenia-and-parents-quest-to-prove-it-wasn-t-bad-mothering-1.5568637 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250411205815/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-may-13-2020-1.5567504/new-book-tells-story-of-6-brothers-with-schizophrenia-and-parents-quest-to-prove-it-wasn-t-bad-mothering-1.5568637 |archive-date=2025-04-11 |access-date=2025-05-16 |work=CBC |language=en-US |url-status=live }}</ref> The Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health, with their DNA samples and experiences forming the cornerstone of research for the disease in the mid-1900s.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dolnick|first=Sam|date=2020-04-03|title=Good Looks Ran in the Family. So Did Schizophrenia.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/books/review/hidden-valley-road-robert-kolker.html|access-date=2022-02-22|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Reception== ''Kirkus Reviews'' praised its "astounding depth and empathy" and Kolker's account of schizophrenia's history and the complicated atmosphere and relationships among members of the Galvin family.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/robert-kolker/hidden-valley-road/ |title=Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker |date=December 15, 2019 |website=Kirkus Reviews |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref>
In a review for ''The New York Times'', Sam Dolnick wrote, "Kolker tells their story with great compassion" and that the author "is a restrained and unshowy writer who is able to effectively set a mood".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Dolnick|first=Sam|date=2020-04-03|title=Good Looks Ran in the Family. So Did Schizophrenia.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/03/books/review/hidden-valley-road-robert-kolker.html|access-date=2020-11-19|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Similarly, in her review for ''The Washington Post,'' Karen Iris Tucker described Kolker's retelling of the Galvin family as "deeply compassionate and chilling," further noting that "the book gives much space to how difficult the disease has been to diagnose and treat. Yet it ends in 2017, as a story of hope."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Tucker|first=Karen Iris|date=April 9, 2020|title=The turbulent lives of six brothers with schizophrenia|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/the-turbulent-lives-of-six-brothers-with-schizophrenia/2020/04/07/13ae195e-6223-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=November 19, 2020|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>
''Publishers Weekly'' called the book a "haunting and memorable" account of multi-generational mental illness and praised Kolker's "taut and often heartbreaking narrative."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-54376-7 |title=Nonfiction Book Review: Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker |date=February 4, 2020 |website=Publishers Weekly |accessdate=April 9, 2020}}</ref> Former president Barack Obama listed the book as one of his favorite books of 2020 on social media on December 17, 2020.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Merry |first1=Stephanie |title=Barack Obama took a break from promoting his own book to highlight 17 of the year's best |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/obama-best-books-2020/2020/12/17/efb95a0e-4098-11eb-8db8-395dedaaa036_story.html |access-date=18 December 2020 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=17 December 2020}}</ref>
==See also== * Genain quadruplets - Another sibling group whose studies focused on the genetic component of schizophrenia
==References== {{Reflist}}
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Category:2020 non-fiction books Category:American biographies Category:Doubleday (publisher) books Category:Books about schizophrenia