# ‘I had a really crippling break’: how author Michael Thomas lost 20 years to mania, depression and more

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/i-had-a-really-crippling-break-how-author-michael-thomas-lost-20-years-to-mania-depression-and-more/
- Published: 2026-07-30T09:00:10+00:00
- Updated: 2026-07-30T09:48:27+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/30/i-had-a-really-crippling-break-how-author-michael-thomas-lost-20-years-to-mania-depression-and-more
- Topics: Americas, Business, Culture, Health, Markets, Mental Health, World

## Key points

- Success after Man Gone Down coincided with Thomas’s mental-health decline.
- The Broken King addresses the 20-year gap between his books.
- Prize money eased debts but did not resolve his crisis.

## Summary

Michael Thomas’s acclaimed 2006 debut novel, Man Gone Down, brought major literary recognition, a €100,000 Dublin literary award and an academic promotion, but was followed by a 20-year gap before his next book. His new memoir, The Broken King, explains how mental illness, poverty, trauma and other pressures disrupted his life and writing, showing that professional success did not protect him from a severe breakdown.

Thomas says he was already in a year-long decline when acclaim arrived and felt unable to enjoy it; the prize mainly meant he could address debts after falling two months behind on his mortgage. The memoir recounts what he calls a “perfect storm” including parental abandonment, racism, alcoholism, sexual violence, self-sabotage and mental illness, while reviewers have praised its literary power and intimacy.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.