Chuck Mullin knows a thing or two about mental illness. As someone who suffered from depression and anxiety for years, she knows the darkness and overthinking that can cause the world to close in around you. She also loves pigeons and feels a kinship to them, as birds of a misunderstood feather. So when she started creating drawings to help illustrate what she was thinking and feeling, she close to express herself with pigeons.

Bird Brain is her first book, a collection of some of the drawings that first appeared online and have inspired so many others in their honesty and positivity. With the drawings are some of her personal essays about her anxiety, relationships, choice to use medication, bad times, isolation, negative thoughts, and personal affirmations.

Despite the charm of the illustrations, this is not an easy book to read. Mullin is exceptionally open about her struggles and her challenges, talking about getting pushback for going on medications and being in an emotionally abusive relationship. But she also shares some of her wins, the joys she finds in her life and in her healing.

If you know her art, you won’t be surprised by the lovely moments her comics illuminate. And you won’t be surprised when they turn dark, reminding you that depression can be a wolf at the door, always ready to strike. Her vulnerability makes this a perfect book for anyone who suffers from mental illness to feel heard and understood, as well for those who don’t struggle with anxiety or depression and want to understand what their loved ones go through in those dark moments.

Bird Brain may be Chuck Mullin’s first book, but I genuinely hope it is not her last. I look forward to learning more about her journey to wholeness and her struggles and successes.

Galleys for Bird Brain were provided by Andews McMeel Publishing through NetGalley, with many thanks.