Description

By Martine Daniel

ISBN: 9781849913614
Published: 2010
Pages: 243
Key Themes: fiction, psychosis, bipolar affective disorder, depression

Description

Fifteen years ago, Lucis mother committed suicide, leaving behind a legacy of lies that Luci is still struggling to uncover.

Now, a year after Luci was left reeling by the twin revelations that she had bipolar affective disorder, and that the grandfather she had thought was dead was still alive, she finally feels ready to meet her grandfather for the first time, hoping that he will be able to shed light on the secrets of the past.

But Walters reaction to Lucis visit raises more questions than it answers, and it is only after his death that Luci is able to discover the tragic truth, which shocks her to the very core of her being.

Legacy of Lies is a heart rending story that stretches back over several generations, unveiling the deplorable state of psychiatric care in the early twentieth century, but which ultimately offers a message of hope for those suffering mental illness today, and their families.

About the Author

Martine Lara 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. Legacy of Lies, the sequel to The Fire in Your Eyes, is her second 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.