Amesbury Clarke

We need to first feel the rain, in order to appreciate the sun. Her mum looks after her, and she looks after her mum. A loving daughter who suffers the mental scars from a traumatic childhood tragedy, and a widowed mother who fights to remain strong for the sake of her daughter. Without MAlice will tug at the strings of your heart, reminding of the delights which human empathy can achieve. Remove the 'M' from Malice and you have the name of our lead character, Alice, a kind natured and well humoured 21 year old who suffers repressed trauma from a harrowing past. Arthur, the deceased father of the family, looks down from heaven, unable to speak to the loving family he has left behind, knowing that they have not forgotten him, as the dead are only able to see the living when they are in their hearts and in their thoughts. Observing fleeting glimpses of the struggles and tribulations of his daughter and his wife, Arthur's mind is tortured in his heartbreak of being unable to intervene or help, yearning more than ever to hold his loving family near and reassure them that everything is going to be ok. Thriving on the love and strength of her friends, Alice struggles with mental illness under the care of her regular consultant Dr Chivers at the foreboding Grange House, a local clinic for patients whose ailments are a little, shall we say, different... Alice's progress has been stalling of late. That is until the esteemed Dr Reubenstein arrives in town, and things begin to take a sinister twist. Aided and abetted by a blossoming love interest, Pete the boy next door, whom the rest of the people in town for some reason don't seem to approve of, Alice seeks to unravel the darker secrets of the new doctor, and the work being conducted at Grange House. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll fall in and out of love, and then do it all again. An emotional journey of loss, joy, tragedy, deceit and hope. A heart-warming tale. Witty, charming and delightful, with characters you can't help but fall in love with. A tale which reminds us we are human, and teaches us to appreciate the love and support of those closest to our hearts.