Box

Susan Jordan is a former psychotherapist and also worked for a branch of Mind, in projects helping users of mental health services lead fuller lives. Her novel, The Box, was inspired partly by her work in the mental health field. In it she writes eloquently about loss and trauma, relationship and the possibility of healing. It is 'a novel full of subtlety and intelligence' (novelist Andrew Miller). As the story opens, Kate has died suddenly, leaving her husband, Richard, their ten-year-old son, Rick, and her twin sister, Jo, shocked and devastated. An awkward but caring relationship develops between Richard and Jo as they face their grief and Jo uncovers deeply disturbing memories from the twins' shared childhood. Along the way Jo, a long-term mental health patient, begins to find hope and self-belief.