Amanda Prowse & Josiah Hartley – The Boy Between

‘The Boy Between’ by Amanda Prowse and Josiah Hartley is a non-fiction book that should be read by everyone! This is a book that Amanda and Josh wrote together about their experiences with Josh’s mental health and how it affected and still affects them. I took it upon myself to take part in this tour due to my own, very personal experiences with mental health and did expect this account to touch me pretty deep and it definitely did.

It is told in alternate chapters by Amanda and then Josh, so we can see exactly how everything affects each other. An account that doesn’t pretty anything up so makes a more forceful impact.

Josh was 19 and had the whole world his for the taking when everything began to crumble. His mental health suddenly began to deteriorate. A fog descended on his brain and it got to the point where he just wanted his bed and to shut everything and everyone out of his world. This is slowly impacting on his work and his tutor even thinks there may be an issue. As his mother, Amanda, as every other mother, just wants the best for her child, who has mainly struggled in the past due to dyslexia. Josh overcame this to get where he is at this moment and she is overjoyed that he is getting somewhere. Then the revelation that no one realises initially, Josh is sinking into that black hole that everyone calls depression and everyone experiences it in their own way.

I was touched by Josh and his brutal honesty in this book. I have experiences with mental health. Not mine, but my ex-husband’s and my daughters have both suffered with it. That tore me apart at the time, so I can so much empathise with Amanda as a mother and a wife. When you realise your child has something you cannot fix, you first begin to crumble but then, as a mother, you stand up and do your very best to help them recover in any way possible. Amanda’s personal account could have almost been mine too.

This book has been written with so much strength and love, these things shine through and I think this may help a lot of families understand that terrible thing known as Depression. A hard read but truly worth it to know we are not alone with these battles! Well done Amanda and Josh.

Thank you to Book On The Bright Side Publicity and both authors for my copy of this personal book to write this review today.