
The Literary Lifeline
Bibliotherapy and the Transforming Power of Reading
Kevin Harvey(Author)
Bloomsbury Academic (Publisher)
Published on 24. July 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-4725-8360-4 (ISBN)
Description
The Literary Lifeline is a tribute to the transporting and consoling power of reading. In this insightful and moving book, Kevin Harvey affirms the importance that language and literature can play in our lives, reminding us of reading's enduring, and sometimes surprising, ability to help us through times of illness, grief, and uncertainty.
Interweaving fragments from his own experience of reading, Harvey takes us on a fascinating tour of reading for therapeutic effect, exploring the rise of shared reading and other uses of bibliotherapy in various social and personal contexts. He argues, through a series of compelling stories and life experiences, that reading not only benefits physical and emotional wellbeing, but that it also humanises the care process, particularly in institutional settings where personhood can be threatened or undermined completely.
Whether he's writing about the drama and delight of reading aloud to other people, the humane magic of the public library, or the loss of his beloved brother and his improvised attempt to read through grief, Harvey offers us an engaging take on the solace of reading and the gift of the written word.
Entertaining, highly accessible, and teeming with illuminating observations and ideas, The Literary Lifeline is a book that will appeal to both scholars and general readers alike.
Interweaving fragments from his own experience of reading, Harvey takes us on a fascinating tour of reading for therapeutic effect, exploring the rise of shared reading and other uses of bibliotherapy in various social and personal contexts. He argues, through a series of compelling stories and life experiences, that reading not only benefits physical and emotional wellbeing, but that it also humanises the care process, particularly in institutional settings where personhood can be threatened or undermined completely.
Whether he's writing about the drama and delight of reading aloud to other people, the humane magic of the public library, or the loss of his beloved brother and his improvised attempt to read through grief, Harvey offers us an engaging take on the solace of reading and the gift of the written word.
Entertaining, highly accessible, and teeming with illuminating observations and ideas, The Literary Lifeline is a book that will appeal to both scholars and general readers alike.
Reviews / Votes
An eloquent, humane book that celebrates the power of literature to bring consolation and healing: words can be medicine for the soul. * Nicci Gerrard, journalist and author of What Dementia Tell Us About Love * Reading changes lives, as I know from first-hand experience when I turned to poetry for consolation at the height of my own depressive episodes. But how exactly does it heal us? And why? The Literary Lifeline provides astute and eloquent answers. Word-lovers everywhere will be pressing this book into one another's hands. Oh, and phew, given the subject matter: it's beautifully written too. * Rachel Kelly, writer and author of Sunday Times bestseller 'Black Rainbow: How Words Healed Me, My Journey through Depression' * The Literary Lifeline is the book about reading and wellbeing that you did not know you needed. It considers reading groups, public libraries, poetry and dementia, medicine as story-telling, and writing through grief. It is both personal and scholarly, passionate and self-deprecating, tragic and humorous. Most importantly, it made me experience afresh the phenomenon that it is about: 'the transformative potential of reading'. -- Elena Semino, Professor of Linguistics and Verbal Art, Lancaster University, UKMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
2 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 156 mm
Width: 235 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
368 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4725-8360-4 (9781472583604)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Kevin Harvey is Associate Professor at the School of English at the University of Nottingham, UK.
Content
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. The Reading Revolution: Shared Reading and Reading for Wellbeing
2. What Have Libraries Ever Done For Us? In Defence of the Public Library System
3. Reawakening the Mind: Poetry and the New Culture of Dementia Care
4. The Enduring Self: A Journal
5. The Doctor as Writer, the Writer as Doctor: A Conversation with Gavin Francis
6. April Notebook: A Death in the Family
In Lieu of a Conclusion: Four Short Postscripts
Reading and dementia: Poems for reading aloud
Notes and references
Index
Preface
1. The Reading Revolution: Shared Reading and Reading for Wellbeing
2. What Have Libraries Ever Done For Us? In Defence of the Public Library System
3. Reawakening the Mind: Poetry and the New Culture of Dementia Care
4. The Enduring Self: A Journal
5. The Doctor as Writer, the Writer as Doctor: A Conversation with Gavin Francis
6. April Notebook: A Death in the Family
In Lieu of a Conclusion: Four Short Postscripts
Reading and dementia: Poems for reading aloud
Notes and references
Index