The experience of his own nervous breakdown gave the author the feeling that he, to some extent, could stand alongside those who suffered. In this book he shares the stories of those who have endured what, for most people, would be unbearable suffering. He describes the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mary Craig, Jean and Therese Vanier, Margaret Spufford and others. He then considers suffering as portrayed in literature, and the philosophy and theory of suffering from a theological perspective.