Quite a moving tale of a daughter, who, after years of wondering about the father she hardly remembered, is handed a box containing a manuscript written by him.

Baird's father was a well-heeled dermatologist in Boston in the '30s and '40s who developed what we would today call bipolar disorder. As a physician, he was somewhat aware of the process he was going through, and attempted to write down his experiences as his career, family and sanity melted away from him.

The first half of the book consists of a narrative of the brief period her father spent moving in and out of various psychiatric facilities, around the time that her parents' marriage fell apart. It consists of his own impressions of his experiences, interspersed with the notes of the psychiatrists that were treating him. It's a bit painful to read as his writing moves from quite lucid to manic and delusional. I can't imagine what it was like to read this as his child. The second half outlines his life after this episode, and her efforts to discover it.

Baird interviews relatives and old family friends over the years to piece together a picture of her father's life. And I think she does a fantastic job. What a legacy to leave to her family. She received such a treasure in that box of papers. And she did a wonderful thing with it.