Hidden Valley RoadHidden Valley Road

Don and Mimi Galvin seemed to be living the American dream. After World War II, Don's work with the Air Force brought them to Colorado, where their twelve children perfectly spanned the baby boom. But behind the closed doors of the house on Hidden Valley Road was a far different reality: psychological breakdown, sudden shocking violence, and hidden abuse. By the mid-1970s, six of the ten Galvin boys were diagnosed with schizophrenia. What took place on Hidden Valley Road was so extraordinary that the Galvins became one of the first families to be studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. Award-winning journalist Robert Kolker tells the intimate story of the Galvins alongside the epic tale of science's quest to uncover the true nature of a mystifying disease. The two youngest Galvins, the only girls, are indelible characters: best friends, both victimized by their brothers, who make sharply different choices about how to cope. The Galvins' story crests in a breakthrough that, thanks to their unique DNA, offers hope of eliminating schizophrenia forever.--