'I detonated my young marriage for a chance to step fully and honestly into a life with him... I was insane, in other words.'

Aron's story of her intense, toxic affair with drug addict K is gripping, poetic and darkly amusing. But alongside the late nights and broken promises of her own life, Aron builds a bigger picture: the untold story of those who have loved and supported addicts through the ages.

From prohibition, which grew out of the (mainly women-led) temperance movement, to the emergence of Al Anon, a fellowship for family members of addicts, to the invention of co-dependency, the story of addiction has never been about one person.

Exploring her own journey of descent and recovery, Aron asks painful and rarely discussed questions. When does helping become harmful? Whose suffering counts? And are our narratives about love as broken as our drug laws?