'Courageous and intelligent' Elissa Soave, author of Ginger and Me 

Depressed and suicidal, Helen was admitted to a psychiatric ward and sectioned under the Mental Health Act. At her lowest, she almost succeeded in taking her own life. But somehow, she endured and later, she recovered.  love lay down beside me and we wept  sprang from these emotionally shattering experiences. Amid the horror though, there were moments of pure comedy and unexpected comradeship. And of course, plenty of material for writing.

This is a profoundly moving and masterful account of one woman's physical and psychological catastrophe. It's a tribute to the love that supported her through it, and it's an offering to the reader who might find comfort or understanding in this story.



Helen is the author of the novel  The Backstreets of Purgatory  (Unbound, 2018). She was brought up in the Lake District and the north-east of Scotland. Before becoming a writer, she worked as a junior doctor in Glasgow and then as a research scientist in Oxford and London.

The profound effects of a severe psychiatric illness, during which she was sectioned under the Mental Health Act, led her away from her intended career. Writing played a crucial role in her recovery. Her memoir  love lay down beside me and we wept  tells part of this story. She currently lives in the south of France.



'Courageous and intelligent'



'Rich with incredible emotional and psychological veracity'



'Stark, witty, redemptive'



'A brilliant anatomist of her own turbulent struggle'