Love for a Deaf Rebel : Schizophrenia on Bowen Island

Love for a Deaf Rebel introduces readers to a vivacious Canadian woman who was born into a silent world and with the foundation for schizophrenia. With pathos and nostalgia, the author recounts his roller-coaster ride with Pearl, a vivacious deaf maverick, who, unknown to him, had paranoid schizophrenia. We follow their encounters through actual notes written before Derrick learns sign language; we go on their motorcycle ride to Mexico and Guatemala; we watch as the happy couple moves to Bowen Island, a British Columbia community with just three paved roads. Pearl and the author marry and build their dream home and hobby farm. They encounter one obstacle after another while building their life together as Pearl’s perception of reality—and, crucially, their perception of each other—begins to change. The author learns what it means to be deaf, what it means to struggle with mental health, and what it means to love such a woman unconditionally—the ecstasy and the agony. There are other books about discovering schizophrenia in the family, such as Hidden Valley Road, and about deaf woman-hearing man relationships, such as Children of a Lesser God, but none that tells the true story of a woman who struggled with both.