The Path to Healing is a Spiral: One woman's journey to emotional healing

A funny and profound memoir about trauma healing written by a Reiki Master, witch and tarot reader. The debut non-fiction by a YA, crime and romance novelist, Anna's story is heartbreaking, compelling and hilariously ridiculous.

What would you do to heal emotional trauma?

Anna was screaming at full volume into a pillow in a grey industrial estate when it dawned on her that maybe this was a slightly unusual way of processing grief. It wasn’t the first time she had done something a little odd to try and make sense of things.

There was the time she sobbed along to Elton John with a room full of strangers. Or the very special experience of trying to enact the spirit of a deer in a school hall.

She's tried Reiki, reflexology, BodyTalk, shamanic healing, past life regression, breathwork, guided visualization, dreamwork, magick ritual, (disastrous) gong baths and meditation – her journey has been long and twisting, but eventually it led to real understanding, and real healing.

This book is about acknowledging our trauma, looking at what it actually is, and feeling our feelings. Interviews with practitioners and experts delve deeper into what alternative therapies offer. Ultimately, Anna hopes to trigger much-needed conversations about emotional health and the non-mainstream ways we can communicate with ourselves and others.

Content warning: suicide, child illness, depression, bereavement, explicit medical detail