A riveting memoir about a daughter’s investigation into the wirings of her loving, unpredictable mother Ten years before Nina St. Pierre was born, her mother attempted suicide by lighting herself on fire. During her mother's recovery in the burn unit, a nurse initiated her into Transcendental Meditation. From that day on, her mother's pain became intertwined with the pursuit of enlightenment. Growing up, Nina longed for a normal life; instead, she and her brother were at the whims of their mother, who chased ascension up and down the state of California, swapping out spiritual practices as often as apartments. When they finally settled at the foot of a mountain—reputed to be cosmic—in Northern California, Nina hoped life would stabilize. But after another fire, and a tragic fallout, she was forced to confront the shadow side of her mother's mystical narratives. With obsessive dedication, Nina discovered the truth that would eventually release her. In Love Is a Burning Thing, Nina interrogates what happens to those undiagnosed and unseen. This is a transfixing, moving portrait of a mother-daughter relationship that examines mental health, stigma, poverty, and gender—and the role that spirituality plays within each.