Mirror Boy

Published Copy

Genres

Psychological Fiction, Family Drama, Coming of Age, Mental Illness, Bildungsroman, Young Adult, Contemporary, and Novels

Trigger Warnings

Violence, Abuse, Death, Profanity, and Sex

Type of Ending

AI Usage^Beta

Series

Not part of a series

Author Prefers A Review On

Amazon

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

Jul 12, 2026

Page Length

348 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

Mirror Boy

Published Copy

Blurb

Naked. Locked out. Again.

Sixteen-year-old Jason Rofeor is stranded on his own porch, courtesy of his unstable mother. Left with a revolving door of her unsavory boyfriends and the painful void of his deadbeat father, Jason finds his escape in the bathroom mirror. What starts as an obsession with picking at his skin spirals into a full-blown dissociative fantasy—a desperate psychological cry to conjure a strong, protective man into his life.

Enter Dr. Milton Greenblatt.

The brilliant dermatologist and physician-scientist seems like the perfect mentor. Eager and driven, Jason steps into the role of Dr. Greenblatt's protégé, seeking the guidance he has lacked. But perfection is a dangerous illusion. As the doctor’s own secrets begin to surface, Jason must rely on his own intuition and the intelligence of his unconscious mind. To protect himself, he will have to question the mentor he admires—and the true intentions of the men in his life.

What people are saying...

"Mirror Boy offers an unprecedented, deeply empathic exploration of what it means to grow up under the shadow of parental mental illness. Due to its unflinching narrative voice and rare psychological sensitivity, this coming-of-age novel fills a longstanding void in the literature for children of parents with psychiatric disorders—a group often marginalized, misunderstood, or silenced. At once a compelling read and a revelation, it provides a language, a mirror, and most importantly, hope."

- Dr. Christian Kloss, sociologist and author of As If Nothing Happened: Living and Grieving as an Adult Child of Mentally Ill Parents

"Mirror Boy is the quintessential bildungsroman for our era. It follows the trials of a young man trying to find meaning—and a reason to live—in a world shattered by the divorce of his parents, one riddled with sharklike appetites and the other with trauma-laden indifference. This masterpiece of psychological fiction inspires tremendous confidence in youth’s capacity for personal transformation. I couldn't put it down."

- Florian Birkmayer, MD, life coach, psychiatrist, and cofounder of AromaGnosis

Details

Genres

Psychological Fiction, Family Drama, Coming of Age, Mental Illness, Bildungsroman, Young Adult, Contemporary, and Novels

Trigger Warnings

Violence, Abuse, Death, Profanity, and Sex

Type of Ending

AI Usage^Beta

Series

Not part of a series

Author Prefers A Review On

Amazon

Reader Spots Remaining

Number of days to read

Publication Date

Jul 12, 2026

Page Length

348 pages

Available Formats

ePub and PDF

Author

Jeremy Spiegel, a practicing psychiatrist and father of three children, was born and raised on Long Island, New York. He has co-hosted programs on The Positive Mind with Armand DiMele (WBAI), appeared as a medical expert on multiple episodes of Taboo (National Geographic), and served as an on-camera interventionist on Hardcore Hobbies (National Geographic). Author of The Mindful Medical Student (Dartmouth College Press, 2009), Art Healing (Seishin, 2011), and Mirror Boy (Seishin, 2026), Spiegel divides his time between Portland, Maine, and New York City, where he lives with his wife, Crystal, and their Corgi, Rocky.

Publisher

Seishin Books