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Sign up todayThe Chair and the Valley
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Learn more"Bracing, brilliant, and fury-inducing.... a survival story like no other. With positively outstanding storytelling, this is a book that cannot be put down." —Booklist, starred review
AN OPEN FIELD PUBLICATION FROM MARIA SHRIVER
One of Booklist’s Best Memoirs of 2024
Banning Lyon was an average 15-year-old, living in Dallas, TX. He enjoyed skateboarding, listening to punk rock, and even had a part-time job. But in January 1987 his life quickly changed after a school guidance counselor falsely believed he was suicidal after giving away his skateboard. Days later he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and what he was told would be a two-week stay turned into 353 days that would change his life forever.
Banning takes readers through his fraught relationship with his family, the mistreatment he suffered at the hospital, the lawsuit against the owners of the facility, and his desire to make sense of what happened to him. We witness Banning navigate the difficult landscape of trauma and his daily battle to live a normal life. After years of highs and lows that include being adopted by his attorney and mentor, falling in love and grieving the death of his fiancée, and being sued by the same doctors who mistreated him, Banning decides to take control of his life and finds hope in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park, where he discovers new purpose in being a backpacking guide. Through friendship, nature, and eventually giving therapy another chance, Banning summons the courage to keep moving forward.
The Chair and The Valley is a raw, gut-wrenching, and amazing story about healing from trauma and starting over. It is a exploration of the importance of chosen family, the restorative power of nature, and the strength it takes to build a new life in the face of fear and doubt.
Banning Lyon is a backpacking guide, an instructor, and a public speaker. He currently lives in Martinez, California, with his wife and daughter.
Banning Lyon is a backpacking guide, an instructor, and a public speaker. He currently lives in Martinez, California, with his wife and daughter.
Reviews
"It’s hard not to become overcome with fury by the injustice Banning experienced when he was a teen… That Lyon found the courage to grab happiness after decades of darkness transforms this devastating memoir into an inspiring read."—People“Banning Lyon’s story is a testament to the power of found family and the hard-earned resilience that can come over time with love.”—Maria Shriver
“What a beautiful, challenging, difficult, and ultimately empowering book. It's impossible to read The Chair and the Valley without feeling moved.”
—Chris Guillebeau, author of The Happiness of Pursuit and The Art of Non-Conformity
“Banning Lyon’s deep, dark and beautifully written debut memoir offers a brave expose of a corrupt psychiatric hospital chain, a poignant testament to the power of human resilience and a lyrical depiction of how nature – and love — can heal the wounded heart.” —Susan Shapiro, NYT bestselling author of The Forgiveness Tour and American Shield
“The Chair and the Valley is an engaging and aching memoir of family catastrophe, misuse of mental health care, loss, and redemption." —Stephen Fried, best-selling author of RUSH and Thing of Beauty, co-author of A Common Struggle and Profiles in Mental Health Courage.
"A profoundly inspiring story for anyone seeking to conquer their own obstacles. With remarkable insight and generosity, Banning navigates readers through trauma, triumph, and the intricate steps in-between." —Nabil Ayers, author of My Life in the Sunshine
"A heartfelt memoir and an urgent demand for higher standards of juvenile mental health care." —Kirkus
"In this bracing, brilliant, and fury-inducing memoir.... Lyon has written a survival story like no other. With positively outstanding storytelling, this is a book that cannot be put down." —Booklist
"As a teenager, Banning endured horrific abuse behind the locked doors of a mental institution that held he and many other teenagers captive as part a horrific insurance scandal. His memoir is an unapologetically honest story of survival and overcoming unspeakable trauma. It is an unflinching yet unexpectedly relatable story of redemption and finding family even when everyone has seemingly has abandoned you." —Ben Moon, author of Denali: A Man, a Dog, and the Friendship of a Lifetime
"Engrossing… Lyon recounts in courageous, at times heartbreaking, detail his experiences being hospitalized as a teenager in an abusive psychiatric facility in Texas for 353 nightmarish days that forever changed his life and sense of self." —San Francisco Chronicle
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