The Chair and the Valley
A Memoir of Trauma, Healing, and the Outdoors
"Bracing, brilliant, and fury-inducing.... a survival story like no other. With positively outstanding storytelling, this is a book that cannot be put down." —Booklist, starred review
AN OPEN FIELD PUBLICATION FROM MARIA SHRIVER
One of Booklist’s Best Memoirs of 2024
One of Booklist Editors' Choice Adult Books for Young Adults, 2024
Banning Lyon was an average 15-year-old, living in Dallas, TX. He enjoyed skateboarding, listening to punk rock, and even had a part-time job. But in January 1987 his life quickly changed after a school guidance counselor falsely believed he was suicidal after giving away his skateboard. Days later he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, and what he was told would be a two-week stay turned into 353 days that would change his life…