The Book of Opposites

This book is a book of opposites. It is a work of fiction and tells the true story of my own life from the age of five at convent boarding schools to the present day.

In between, it tells of love and death and suicide, of murder and addiction and catastrophic breakdown. But mostly it tells of love and isolation.

The story takes place in Cornwall in a small village by the sea, where I spent most of my life. It tells the story of Rachel and her two children. Four years after her husbands death because of cancer, she meets and falls in love with a Catholic priest. This love story then becomes a brutal obsession and bears witness to the complete disintegration of her mind, and it takes her to the edge of madness.

Everything has an opposite good and bad, evil and redemption. This book also contains passages regarding astrology and Greek mythology and of animals and birds that continually speak to Rachel and warn her of her downfall. These passages are meant to convey a sense that Rachel is pursued by her demons from the start. They are playful and enigmatic, but also dark and spiteful, a kind of childlike/adult magic.