Susan Doherty Hannaford is a Montreal-based writer.

Winner of the QWF’s Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-fiction 2019

The Ghost Garden

Winner of two 2020 Word Guild Awards: Culture and Les Prix des Mots

The Ghost Garden

“The Ghost Garden is nothing less than an act of courage, both on the part of Susan Doherty – who took an immense risk devoting herself to a subject so misunderstood and indistinct – and those who shared their stories with her. The Ghost Garden is a poignantly nuanced depiction of a complex painful reality, a depiction that is indeed suffused with empathy and love.” QWF Jury member.

Susan published her debut novel, A Secret Music, with Cormorant Books in 2015. Her second book, The Ghost Garden, Inside the Lives of Schizophrenia’s Feared and Forgotten is a biography about an Ottawa woman who committed a crime and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. The book chronicles her life careening through the Canadian medical system, jail, group homes and hospitals in an attempt to navigate the symptoms of psychosis. Threaded through the book are 18 vignettes that help to flesh out the landscape of an illness that places people far outside the boundaries of acceptance.

Susan’s passions include: education, music, helping to de-stigmatize mental health issues. She has done 25 years of community service in the area of mental wellness.

PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED:

THE GHOST GARDEN

Non-fiction that focuses on de-stigmatizing schizophrenia. Finding the human being behind the diagnosis.

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PUBLISHED WORK:
A Secret music

Lawrence Nolan, a gifted pianist, grows up in the shadow of his mother’s mental illness. A Secret Music is a rite of passage debut novel that brings prolific music, family neglect and numbing guilt to life in 1936 Montreal. Hindered by unwarranted responsibility and shameful secrets, Lawrence yearns to pursue his passion on the world stage.

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