Drowning in Alcohol

"I’ve heard it said that for alcoholics like me, there are only four possibilities: prison, the psychiatric ward, death or sobriety. I didn't go to jail, but did end up at the police station, in a drunk tank. The psychiatric hospital? I was there for a week, it was shocking. Death? I came close to it several times. I've come a long way, a very long way. But today I've come out of it and I'm totally clean."
Drowning in Alcohol is the rare story of a young woman who had everything going for her, but but who gradually fell into alcohol and alcoholic madness. Drowning in vodka at the age of 35, Virginie Hamonnais lost custody of her child, and for five years led a life of vagrancy and great suffering.
The author has now stopped drinking. She is fighting against this strong addiction that affects many young women. This testimony brings a message of hope because it shows that it is possible to get out of the vicious cycle, in spite of the taboo and the addiction which can touch any one of us.

Virginie Hamonnais, born in 1979, in Paris, is a director and production assistant and has been alcohol-free for three years.