Wading The Waters of my Mind

Description

‘Promise me you’ll never tell anyone. This can just be our little secret.’

Fourteen years ago, Adam Waddoups made his father a promise – and for fourteen years, he’s kept that promise, keeping to himself the secret that could so easily rip the fabric of his family apart.

But keeping secrets comes at a cost for Adam, and he is tortured by the memories of the past, trapped in a cycle of guilt that regularly plunges him into episodes of depression and mania, which push him dangerously close to the edge.

When Adam is diagnosed with bipolar disorder – a diagnosis which is later adjusted to the lesser known schizoaffective disorder – and referred to a psychotherapist, he is forced to confront the demons of his past – and to finally admit the truth, allowing him, at last, to shape a more positive future for himself.

About the Author

Martine Daniel was born in York in 1981. From a young age, she knew she wanted to be a writer, and whilst at secondary school she would often be caught scribbling stories in the back of exercise books during lessons. Her dreams of seeing her name in print never dimmed, despite her life being turned upside down by episodes of mania, depression and psychosis during her late teens and early twenties.

In 2003 the pressures of a stressful job brought on an episode of psychotic mania, which led to the breakdown that ended her hopes of a career in bookselling, following which Martine was finally forced into contact with local mental health services. With the help of medication and the support of her family, she began to pick up the pieces of her life and started work on her first novel The Fire in Your Eyes (published 2009), juggling work on the novel with her studies with The Open University. Her second novel, Legacy of Lies, the sequel to The Fire in Your Eyes, was published in April 2010. Wading the Waters of My Mind is her third novel.

Martine hopes that by bringing the experience of mental illness alive in her works of fiction she can contribute to the ongoing battle to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.