Kit de Waal: How Books Saved Me From Breakdown

Author Kit de Waal has shared how a pivotal conversation and the subsequent discovery of reading fundamentally changed the trajectory of her life. De Waal, whose childhood was marked by poverty, recounted experiences of feeling like an outsider and the damaging effects of both poverty and racism on children. Despite these challenges, she also recalled moments of kindness from neighbors that taught her about compassion.

De Waal left home at 16 after her mother became a Jehovah's Witness, a faith de Waal no longer wished to follow. The subsequent years were tumultuous, characterized by drug use and excessive drinking. The deaths of friends from heroin overdoses served as a stark warning, prompting her to confront her life's direction. By the age of 21, her mental health had significantly deteriorated, bringing her close to a serious breakdown.

Upon returning home and taking a job with the Crown Prosecution Service, a casual remark from a solicitor offered an unexpected solution to her insomnia: reading. Initially unaccustomed to books, de Waal was given a list of novels, including classics like "War and Peace" and "Madame Bovary." This recommendation, though it did not cure her insomnia, opened up a new world for her.

Reading became a profound passion, eventually inspiring de Waal to pursue her own writing career. After more than a decade of rejections and honing her craft, her novel "My Name Is Leon," which tells the story of a young boy in the 1980s care system, became an international bestseller. The book was later adapted for television by the BBC and is now studied in schools. De Waal emphasizes that the most crucial lesson from her success is to "write the thing you really care about."

Despite her international career, de Waal remains a strong advocate for reading in all its forms, including audiobooks. She continues to credit the world of reading with saving her life and changing its course.