Every college student knows the pressures of adolescence — finding a place in the world and growing up. But not many know what it’s like to be a certified genius, in the public spotlight and, above all, tortured by mental illness.

Nick Traina knew what that life was like, and he dealt with it every day. “His Bright Light” is the story of his struggle.

Traina was the firstborn son of famous romance novelist Danielle Steel. He was his mother’s pride and joy from the day he was born, showing his intelligence early on: walking by the age of eight months and speaking in full sentences at one year.

But Traina was a difficult child, always depressed and angry at everyone around him, and Steel knew there was something out of the ordinary from day one. But she would spend years convincing others of it.

Finally, Traina was diagnosed as manic depressive in his early teens, but not even Steel knew that the illness could be life threatening.

Then, at 19 years of age, after several failed attempts, Traina succeeded in taking his own life. A year after her son’s death, in September of 1997, Steel decided to pay tribute to him with “Light.”

Steel shared a closeness with Traina that surpassed her relationships with her other children. His mother was the only one Traina knew he could really trust, and their bond was a special one.

The book’s first page is a poem from Traina to his mother, written in August of 1996. The simple ode shows Traina’s respect for his mother but is also chillingly psychic.

He writes, “Everything will turn out fine/ Because I will always love you/ Until the day I die.” A little more than a year later, Traina was dead.

“Light” was obviously written in admiration and love not only for a beloved son but for someone who Steel considered an amazing and talented person. Traina’s journal entries, written throughout his adolescence, are included in the book, and Steel regards some of them as “quite brilliant.”

She calls her son a better writer than herself and deems Traina’s music as one of the most important things in his life.

Steel’s words convey a sense of loss only a mother could know and Traina’s journal entries and song lyrics are dark and confused, with titles like “Need” and “Indecision.”

With “Light,” Steel succeeds both in paying tribute to her son and warning the public of the hidden dangers in the disease of manic depression.

Steel sums up the mission of her book when she writes, “I would like to offer people hope and the realities we lived with. My hope is that someone will be able to use what we learned and save a life with it.”

3 1/2 stars out of five

Kelsey Foutch is a sophomore in journalism and mass communication from Waterloo.