The Tun­nel is a father’s mem­oir about a family’s odyssey through the world of seri­ous men­tal ill­ness. It is a sto­ry about the bat­tles Friedler’s son Hen­ry fought with his par­ents, with var­i­ous author­i­ty fig­ures — includ­ing schools, teach­ers, and the police — and most impor­tant­ly, the bat­tles Hen­ry fought with his own mind. Henry’s sto­ry takes place for the most part in the dis­tinc­tive air of Uptown New Orleans. He came from a well-edu­cat­ed and pros­per­ous South­ern fam­i­ly, the only son between two sis­ters. The mem­oir chron­i­cles the way soci­ety views, treats, and even crim­i­nal­izes the men­tal­ly ill. It is a love sto­ry of a hus­band and wife as well as a frac­tured love sto­ry of a father and son. But at its heart, The Tun­nel is a sto­ry of the resilience of a fam­i­ly, a man, and a mar­riage. It is a sto­ry of tak­ing that gasp of air at the end of a tun­nel — a breath that says you are alive, you made it through your own tun­nel of dark­ness, and you will find hap­pi­ness on the oth­er side.