Sierra Mason’s life is built on responsibility. After decades of sacrifice and a long estrangement, her bipolar sister Hope reappears—fragile, volatile, and desperately in need of help once again. When Sierra realizes Hope’s mental state is teetering into madness, she steps in, determined to keep her sister safe.
Then a wellness check goes disastrously wrong. Hope is shot by police, and Sierra is thrust into the aftermath—hospital rooms, legal uncertainty, and the fragile work of helping her sister recover. But while she works to secure her sister’s future, her own is slipping away.
Can Sierra rebuild her sister’s life without losing her own?
Hope and Madness is an upmarket, character-driven novel about complicated families, moral pressure, and the enduring bonds that persist even when everything else fractures. Readers drawn to emotionally resonant stories of difficult choices and hard-won persistence will want to read Hope and Madness.
Author
Julie Hartig
After a career in engineering, business, project leadership, and community boards, my appreciation for the power of stories has only deepened.
I write character-driven fiction rooted in lived experience. My work centers on family, responsibility, and the moral pressures of real life—where care has limits, systems falter, and the right choice is rarely simple.
When not writing, you’ll find me outdoors, traveling, or engrossed in a story, often with a cup of tea in hand.
The Boundary Reset is a brief, reflective guide that explores why burnout happens—and how creating space doesn’t have to come with guilt or confrontation.
The next chapter
Follow Along
How Stories Depict Mental Illness
These are the books recommended as shelf-mates for my novel about a family and mental illness. Few actually were. But reading them together—Poe to Plath to Olive Kitteridge—revealed how literature and mental illness have shaped each other for two centuries
Getting Past the Writing Plateau Nobody Talks About
Nobody talks about hitting a plateau in writing. Four years in, I could feel it in my bones. I wasn’t where I needed to be, and no amount of clases or critique groups helped.
I Know This Much Is True, Mine Is Too
A critique partner suggested a book about a brother trying to save his mentally ill twin as a comp title. I read it afraid my story had already been told.
Contact Author
julie @ jahartig.com