Anxietyland

In this graphic memoir, British illustrator/author Gemma Correll candidly shares her personal experiences living with anxiety, depression, agoraphobia and panic attacks. Telling her story with charming illustrations and sprinkles of humour, Correll has a lot to say about living with mental health struggles and how it has impacted her life. 

As someone who lives with anxiety myself, I appreciate that she doesn't sugarcoat what it feels like to experience anxiety. She doesn't provide a quick fix (because there isn't one) and instead, she gives readers an authentic, lived-in view of anxiety and doesn't minimize the struggles, darkness and ups and downs ... and the really deep-dark-downs that some people experience. 

I believe readers who are struggling with mental health will relate to her descriptions. But I also think it would help people who do not suffer from mental illness to better understand and empathize with what it feels like to live with anxiety.

While this graphic novel covers a serious topic, Correll shows her readers, with humour, heart, her own truth and a hopeful tone, that there can be a way to live with anxiety and learn how to manage it so it doesn't control our lives. This book will hopefully help to destigmatize mental health and provide some options and real-life experience for readers who are on their own mental health journey.  

Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Gallery Books for the complimentary digital copy of this book which was given to me via the NetGalley app in exchange for my honest review.

My Rating: 5 stars

Author: Gemma Correll

Genre: Graphic Novel, Humour, Mental Health, Memoir

Type and Source: ebook from publisher via NetGalley

Publisher: Gallery Books (S&S)

First Published: April 28, 2026

Read: Feb 2-3, 2026

Book Description from GoodReads: Come and join us in the magical world of Anxietyland, a theme park like no other. Here, there's so much to see and revel in the ups and downs of the Hormonal Rollercoaster, feel the twists and turns of the Overcaffeinated Teacups, and take a scenic ride on the Train of Overthinking to Comorbid Park. There's no better place for making new friends such as our fun mascot Scaredy Cat, enjoying world-class entertainment, from the Parade of the Therapists to the Well-Meaning Advice Jamboree, and making memories that you'll never forget - even if you want to!

In Welcome to Anxietyland! cartoonist, writer, and long-time-anxious-person, Gemma Correll takes us on a riotous journey through her struggles with anxiety, to the desperate search for relief and finally to the realization that it really is possible to feel OK again. Because sometimes all that's left to do when you've tried every possible remedy you can imagine is laugh.