BEAUTIFUL BOY

A father's journey through his son's addiction

by DAVID SHEFF

To see more biographies including Tweak by David's son Nic, and Go Ask Alice, please click here

New hardcover book with dustjacket, 326 pages, published 2008. 1st Edition.

David Sheff's story is a first: a teenager's addiction from the parent's point of view - a real-time chronicle of the shocking descent into substance abuse and the gradual emergence into hope. Before meth, Sheff's son Nic was a varsity athlete, honor student, and award-winning journalist. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who stole money from his eight-year-old brother and lived on the streets.

At its heart Beautiful Boy is an amazingly honest and exquisitely written account of a family's torturous journey through addiction. It raises questions that reflect the fears of every parent: Where does one's responsibility to a loved one end? How - and when - should a parent know whether his or her child is substance abusing? And how does a family recover from the wounds afflicted by addiction and get on with their lives? David Sheff has written a powerful and moving family portrait that will resonate soundly with all readers and is sure to become a classic.

David's son, Nic Sheff, tells his story in Tweak (growing up on methamphetamines) - click here to purchase

About the author

DAVID SHEFF's work has appeared in the New York Times, Outside, Rolling Stone, Wired, Fortune, and elsewhere. His piece for the New York Times Magazine, "My Addicted Son", generated several hundred letters from readers and won an award from the American Psychological Association for "Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addiction".

Sheff has been an editor of New West and California magazines and was a founding editor of Men's Life and Yahoo Internet Life.  He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.  Sheff lives in Northern California with his wife, Karen Barbour, an artist, illustrator, and author of children's books.  He has three children, Nic, Jasper, and Daisy Sheff.

BEAUTIFUL BOY - DAVID SHEFF