A Biographical Novel Based on Key Moments in the Life of Bill Wilson, the Alcoholics Anonymous Founder, and a Probing of His Mysterious 11-year Depression After Bill Wilson's supreme achievement in founding Alcoholics Anonymous, why would he have suffered a serious depression that lasted more than a decade? By attempting to throw light on this question, the book involves the reader in many other themes of vital relevance to everyone—not to those in recovery alone. This in-depth study of the AA founder is generally based on the facts of Wilson's life, but not restricted to the literal truth: the prerogative of the novel. A number of the biographical events in Wilson's history have been passed over in favor of an intensive, original recreation of its key moments, from childhood to early middle-age, when the power of the depression was first felt. Chiefly a work of the imagination as this is, it is able to probe more deeply into the hidden life of its subject than non-fiction can do. According to the author, Bill W.'s depression may have been his salvation, and saved him from a worse fate. The story of AA and Bill W.'s own struggles, within and outside the movement, are seen throughout from his standpoint alone. Written in the glowing, masterful style that is Paul Hourihan's hallmark, Bill W., A Strange Salvation will introduce new readers to Bill Wilson, one of the seminal voices of our age, and provide a fresh look for those already familiar with his story.