This graphic memoir describes, through eloquent narration and vivid illustrations, the author's experience as an only child dealing with her mother's slow, agonizing slide into major depression. Her father was a traveling salesman so she was alone with her mother for most of the time, struggling to understand what was happening, why it was happening and if she was somehow at fault. Already Broken deals with aspects of major depressive disorder -- shame, rage, doubt, remorse, despair -- and how they affect and damage everyone involved. The illustrations tell a story that the words alone cannot -- the result is a wrenching, multidimensional glimpse into one family's struggle, in silence and with little outside help, with this devastating illness.