Beautiful Boy

In Beautiful Boy David Sheff tells the often overlooked story of his son's addiction through a parent's eyes.

"When Nic was growing up, I thought I would be content with whatever choices he made in his life...Now I live with the knowledge that, never mind the most modest definition of a normal or healthy life, my son may not make it to twenty-one"

What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong? Those are the wrenching questions that haunted every moment of David Sheff's harrowing journey through his son Nic's addiction to drugs and tentative steps toward recovery. Beautiful Boy is a fiercely candid memoir that brings immediacy to the emotional rollercoaster of loving a child who seems beyond help.

Before Nic Sheff became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied repeatedly, stole money from his eight-year-old brother, and lived on the streets. David Sheff traces the first subtle warning signs: the denial, the three A.M. phone calls (is it Nic? the police? the hospital?), the rehabs.

His preoccupation with Nic became an addiction in itself, and the obsessive worry and stress took a tremendous toll. But as a journalist, he instinctively researched every avenue of treatment that might save his son and refused to give up on Nic.

David Sheff's Beautiful Boy grew out of an article in the New York Times Magazine that drew an overwhelming response from readers grateful that Sheff had finally given voice to the devastating experience they shared. As the psychologies Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia, said in praise of Beautiful Boy, "When one of us tells the truth, he makes it easier for all of us to open our hearts to our pain and that of others."

"This is a brilliant, harrowing, heartbreaking, fascinating story, full of beautiful moments and hard-won wisdom. This book will save a lot of lives and help heal a lot of hearts. I absolutely could not put it down."
-- Anne Lamott (Author of Grace (Eventually) and Operating Instructions

"Sheff's story is honest, reflective, and deeply moving. Sadly, it is a story all too relevant for our troubled times. When one of us tells the truth, he makes it easier for all of us to open our hearts to our own pain and to that of others. That's ultimately what Beautiful Boy is about: truth and healing."
-- Mary Pipher (author of Writing to Change the World and Reviving Ophelia)

"Those of us who love an addict - or are addicts ourselves - will find "Beautiful Boy" a revelation. David Sheff knows all too well what must be endured with faith, and his extraordinary book describes it better than anything else I've read. While painfully candid, "Beautiful Boy" is equally optimistic and powerful."
-- Martin Sheen (Actor)

"An extraordinary story of pain, perseverance, and hope."
-- William C. Moyers (author of Broken)

"Here are the mysteries of love and grief, fear and faith, power and surrender. Here is a perilous, redemptive read: a text for any father, any parent, anyone who has ever wrestled with holding on and letting go."
-- Thomas Lynch (author of The Undertaking and Bodies In Motion and At Rest)

"This story of parental love is a masterpiece of description and feeling. Sheff portrays addiction and its confusion in a way that is immediate, informative, and heartbreaking. His quest for healing is a riveting suspense story that will enlighten and compel anyone who has ever dealt with addiction, and anyone who has ever raised a child."
-- Susan Cheever (author of Note Found in a Bottle and My Name is Bill)

David Sheff's books include Game Over, China Dawn, and All We Are Saying. His many articles and interviews have appeared in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy, Wired, Fortune, and elsewhere. His piece for the New York Times Magazine, "My Addicted Son," won an award for "Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addiction." Sheff and his family live in Inverness, California.