What happens when the thing you believe will save you begins to pull you further from reality?
In The Make-Believe: A Memoir of Magic and Madness, Game of Thrones and Skins actress Hannah Murray recounts her extraordinary descent from depression and spiritual searching into a cult-like organization that promised healing, enlightenment, and magic.
As Murray becomes increasingly immersed in rituals, energy healing, and a charismatic leader’s teachings, her search for meaning spirals into a devastating psychotic break and hospitalization. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she must slowly separate genuine connection from delusion—and rebuild a life outside the world that once seemed to hold every answer.
Raw, unsettling, and deeply personal, The Make-Believe explores vulnerability, manipulation, mental illness, and the difficult process of finding yourself again.
Read our Instaread summary of The Make-Believe to discover how Hannah Murray ultimately found magic in ordinary life.
