“I was deeply moved by this vital, brave memoir. Hannah Murray’s compelling account of her experience is intensely open-hearted and lyrical, depicting just how porous the boundaries and realities of our lives can become. A stunning achievement.”—Sophie Mackintosh, author of The Water Cure
“A memoir of real literary power that wields a writer’s full tool kit, with finger-biting dramatic irony, vivid sensory evocation, and pithy statements of uncomfortable truth. . . . The premise of Hannah Murray’s induction into a wellness cult is fascinating, but her execution is what makes this story uniquely compelling.”—Naoise Dolan, author of Exciting Times
“A page-turning and generous book that is intensely concerned with what it means to be human. Hannah Murray is a masterful storyteller.”—Rebecca Watson, author of Little Scratch
“An extraordinary memoir—propulsive, immersive; like nothing I have ever read before. I read it in one day and thought about it for weeks afterwards.”—Dolly Alderton, New York Times bestselling author of Good Material
“In The Make-Believe, Hannah Murray traces the subtle architecture of belief: how need becomes trust, and trust becomes surrender. What makes this memoir so remarkable is what Murray resists—she does not cast herself as a victim or offer easy lessons. Instead, she reveals, moment by moment, how a person in search of healing can gradually lose herself. The power lies in the restraint, in the questions left unanswered. This is a book about the cost of wanting to be saved.”—Ruth Wariner, New York Times bestselling author of The Sound of Gravel
“Reading The Make-Believe, I shivered as I recognized the terror and seduction entwined in Hannah Murray’s story. This memoir is harrowing, yes—but it is also exquisitely written, tracing the fracture of a mind and the fierce, fragile work of reclaiming it. The cult memoir world needed this book.”—Daniella Mestyanek Young, author of Uncultured
“This book is brilliantly and beautifully written, fast-flowing, deeply felt and observed. Hannah Murray is a writer of tremendous skill and fearlessness.”—Daisy Johnson, author of Sisters
