|
 |
A tale of intrigue and betrayal set between windswept rural Wales, London, and Los Angeles, Falling Apart is an exciting debut from a promising new author...
When Rachel Grant, a successful and ambitious doctor, comes across an opening to cover a GP’s maternity leave in rural Pembrokeshire she jumps at the chance. It’s just the opportunity she’s been looking for to escape London and put a disastrous love affair with her boss, Richard, firmly behind her. It’ll also be a chance to gain hands-on experience with patients, something she lacks after years spent in research. She rents a remote cottage, and throws herself into her work at the surgery, but soon finds that she is particularly drawn to a patient in a nearby residential home.
Ali Taylor has been in a state of extreme psychological dissociation since she fell from the cliff at Devil’s Finger, a notoriously dangerous local spot, three years previously. Her symptoms are among the most severe that Rachel has encountered; Ali made a full recovery from her physical injuries, but has remained completely unresponsive and withdrawn from the world. What happened to leave this young woman in such a tragic state?
Convinced that there is a pre-existing psychological cause, Rachel initiates a new course of treatment, based on her earlier studies of war veterans. It yields impressive results—Ali begins to speak, and slowly to piece together her past, and the events leading up to the accident. She is desperate to be well enough to return to her daughter, Rose, and her beloved Hale Manor. But not everyone approves of Rachel’s methods, least of all Ali’s cousin, the charming and successful Conservative MP, Neil Hardcastle, and she soon finds herself thwarted at every turn. Frustrated and undermined, Rachel is eventually lured back to London by the promise of a research directorship, and Ali starts to slip back into the comforting darkness of withdrawal.
But Rachel’s treatment has stirred up old demons in Ali that become impossible for her to ignore, and she is finally forced to face her fears and uncover the truth behind the fateful night on Devil’s Finger. What she discovers takes her back to the darkest recesses of her childhood, and to the betrayal of those she believed were closest to her.
As Rachel struggles to retain her professional and personal integrity, Ali is fighting for her daughter, her sanity and her future. Atmospheric and compelling, Falling Apart tells the story of two women’s very different battles to prove themselves.
|
 |
|
|