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.
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Follow Along
Outside Looking In: Crazy by Pete Earley
Pete Earley’s Crazy and my novel Hope and Madness cover the same broken ground — mental illness, law enforcement, and the impossible cost of fighting for someone you love. One maps the system from the outside. The other lives inside it. Both are necessary. Neither offers easy answers.
Please Don’t Feed the Bears
The bear got in through an unlocked door. And the question of who actually understands a situation like bipolar.
Going Dark: Bringing The Death Ledger to Life
Two months. A genre I’d never written. A submission deadline for a screen adaptation opportunity. This is how The Death Ledger came to be — and why it needed a different name on the cover.
Contact Author
julie @ jahartig.com