Paperback: 408 pages
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher: Picador 2014
Source: Tywyn Public Library
First Sentences: Prologue: Johnnie struggles to open the heavy metal door of the clinic without dropping the stack of files he has clutched to his chest.
Review Quote: 'Carefully crafted and empathetic' Sunday Times
My Opinion: A realistic look at mental health issues
A realistic look at mental health issues. In a note from the author she informs the reader that she wanted to write this novel having had first-hand experience of anxiety and depression.
She feels that because the problems of mental illness are very real and painful that mental health should be taken as seriously as physical health. Too often sufferers are told to pull themselves together or snap out of it. This is often because the symptoms are just not visible, but also hard for any of us to talk about. Mental health problems are problems that normal people like you and I suffer from.
Although this novel is not exactly a sequel to One Moment, One Morning it does continue the story of some of the Brighton based characters met previously. This time one of the main characters is a man, but there is an overlap with Karen, Anna and Lou as they have featured previously. The protagonists are just normal people but they happen to meet in a psychiatric clinic, Sarah Rayner has hopefully made understanding mental illness a little easier to understand by writing about it in this way.
Although the story stands perfectly alone it does pick up the character Karen's life, almost two years after the fateful train journey from Brighton to London. Along with the other two main characters Michael and Abby the three of them are suffering tremendous tensions in their lives. Karen's father is dying, Abby has an autistic son, whilst Michael is about to become bankrupt. It is whilst attending Moreland's Psychiatric Clinic that they get to share their secrets with each other, sharing the low points of their lives, whilst on the road to recovery.
Three ordinary people leading seemingly ordinary everyday life's until something tips them over the edge. They could so easily be you, me or someone we know, as each and every one of us is vulnerable, a thought provoking read.
Sarah Rayner is a writer that tugs at your heart strings, an author definitely worth reading.
My review of her début novel One Moment, One Morning can be read here
Sarah was born in London and spent her childhood years in Richmond, Surrey, becoming a punk with spiky hair. After studying English at Leeds University she returned to London and started a career in fashion PR. Her boss suggested she was better at writing than impressing clients, suggesting she became an advertising copywriter. Taking his advice she then spent ten years in various London agencies, before turning freelance, got some short stories published by Woman’s Own, and for many years combined life as an author and copywriter. Sarah and her partner Tom now live in Brighton along with her teenage stepson who joins them at weekends.
More biographical information can be found here
Photographs and biographical information courtesy of the following sites.
Author's Official Website Amazon Author Profile Goodreads - Author Profile
Sarah Rayner - Facebook Profile Twitter Profile Instagram - The Creative Pumpkin
