This is a story about love…
‘You are a song inside me now, a melody that stirs and bursts into life when I think of you.’
In this heart-breaking, thought-provoking and ultimately uplifting memoir, Gill Mann remembers life with her son Sam – a boy and young man who enchanted and infuriated in equal measure. Sam saw colours where others saw grey. He made people feel alive. His unvanquishable spirit sings out as Gill reflects on the joys he brought, the difficulties of his struggles with schizophrenia, and this impact of his death.
Part journal, part journey into the past, and part conversation with Sam, in this beautifully written memoir, Gill thoughtfully and tenderly reveals her relationship with her son, both before and after his death. A Song Inside explores universal issues of love and loss to reveal how we can move forward and find happiness again, without leaving behind the people we have lost.
About the author: Gill Mann has always loved writing. To keep her parents happy, she started her working life as a solicitor. But sixteen years after qualifying she retrained as a professional photographer, becoming an Associate of the Royal Photographic Society. Finally she worked out what she really wanted to do and returned to university to study for a Postgraduate Diploma and Masters degree in Psychodynamic Counselling – and has worked as a therapist ever since. Her interest in people informs her writing. Although she writes mainly from life she has recently turned to fiction, starting to work on a collection of short stories based on the theme of therapy.
‘This beautifully written and tender tribute to a beloved son is full of sadness but also of love. I learned a lot from it.’ – Cathy Rentzenbrink: writer, journalist and author of the Sunday Times bestselling memoir The Last Act of Love
‘Sam’s story is that of lots of young men: different, troubled, beloved and lost. His mother’s story, and the family’s, is all their own but will raise echoes for many of the process of memory, understanding and resolution.’ – Libby Purves: radio presenter, journalist and author
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