The Province of Hope Author:Mark Lee Kirchmeier Johnny Verliebt is a young man with many lives. One is that of a college student from an affluent suburban family; the other is one of sleepless nights and racing thoughts that can only be quieted by alcohol and drugs. Soon after Johnny falls in love with a young medical student named Robert, he suffers a psychotic breakdown and begins life with... more » bipolar affective disorder. Believing that he is unable to care for himself and that his only hope for survival lies with Robert, he abandons Texas for a new life with his mentor in Boston. But Johnny learns that Robert may be unwilling to sacrifice a life of respectability for love, even if it means losing his troubled but alluring protégé. Returning home, Johnny is struggling to understand his existence through writing when he meets Matt, a precocious working class boy about to enter college. As Johnny begins his first novel, The Province of Hope, he embarks on a difficult journey towards trust, love, and the possibility that he can rebuild his broken heart and mind.« less