Emma Hardy examines the often bewildering experience of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), tracing the relationship between hormonal cycles, mental illness & desire, whilst navigating the difficulty of distinguishing one's personality from the symptoms of a condition. 

It covers a lot. There's relationships, medical encounters, psychiatric distress, the suspended reality of Melbourne's COVID lockdowns...but Hardy lassos it all with candour, despite being true to the anger, shame, self-perception and the fear of becoming monstrous she feels.

There's a great throughline of this idea that the way you can feel and act when ordinary emotional experience acquires the authority of a medical diagnosis. Her writing (refreshingly) resists the tidiness of recovery narratives, allowing contradiction, humour and uncertainty to coexist.

Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2026. First edition, first printing. Paperback. Very good condition, with minimal visible shelfwear. Pages appear clean and well preserved.