The Mike File: A Story of Grief and Hope

In The Mike File, Stephen Trimble grapples with his brother's heartrending life and death and looks behind doors he's barricaded in himself. In 1957, when "Stevie" was six and Mike 14, psychosis overwhelmed Mike. He never lived at home again and died alone in a Denver boarding home at 33. Journalists used Mike's death to expose these "ratholes" warehousing people with mental illness.Detective story, social history, journey of self-discovery, and compassionate and unsparing memorial to a family and a forgotten life, The Mike File will move every reader with a relative or friend touched by psychiatric illness or disability.

"Trimble adds a new voice of eloquent witness to the growing literature of severe mental illness. With restrained grief and unrestrained remembrance, he reclaims in words his lost, loved and loving brother. He reminds us that the mad among us are human-and in many ways versions of ourselves."

-Ron Powers, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of No One Cares About Crazy People

"The only one way to compose an authentically inclusive and connected world is to first imagine it. Trimble does so specifically. This book is an unflinching witness as well a resounding call to our collective responsibility."

-Nan Seymour, Founder of River Writing

"The Mike File is insightful, heartfelt and unforgettable-a love letter to his family and a somber contemplation of what might have been."

--Robert Kolker, author of ​Hidden Valley Road