About this item
Even a darkening world can be brilliantly lit from within.Born with a rare genetic mutation called Usher Syndrome type III, Rebecca Alexander has been simultaneously losing both her sight and hearing since she was a child, and was told that she would likely be completely blind and deaf by age 30. Then, at 18, a fall from a window left her athletic body completely shattered. None of us know what we would do in the face of such devastation. What Rebecca did was rise to every challenge she faced. She was losing her vision and hearing and her body was broken, but she refused to lose her drive, her zest for life and - maybe most importantly - her sense of humor. Now, at 35, with only a sliver of sight and significantly deteriorated hearing, she is a psychotherapist with two masters' degrees from Columbia University, and an athlete who teaches spin classes and regularly competes in extreme endurance races.
About the Author
I write historical crime, with an interest in folk and superstitious beliefs. A Baby's Bones (Titan Books) asks the reader: is a dark house haunted by the dreadful violence committed there in the past, or is there a scientific explanation that triggers the darkness in the people who are working there? People rarely set out to kill someone, but their emotions can build up into a sexual obsession, and that's really what this book is about. I've always been fascinated by what makes people react the way they do, which was why I studied psychology and worked with people. I also am undecided about certain aspects of the supernatural. Do terrible events leave a mark on places and people? Can we understand every phenomenon with science? When I'm not reading crime I like to explore fantasy, and with the Secrets of Life and Death I brought a single element of fantasy into the real world and it seeped in all directions. Dr John Dee believed sorcery was possible - it was his idea of technology. I just wondered ... what if he was right? What if a child's life could be saved by magic when medicine fails? Then I had to go back and follow Dee and his sidekick, Kelley, as they did their experiments and worked out how magic works in the castle of Elizabeth Bathory, the sadistic 'Blood Countess' in The Secrets of Life and Death series. In A Baby's Bones (its sequel, A Shroud of Leaves is out April 2019) Sage Westfield is excavating a filled in well that appears to date back hundreds of years, when she finds the bones of a baby. As she struggles to interprets the finds, uncovering layers of story and folklore and trying to reconcile them with the evidence, she meets the local vicar, Nick. Together they piece together what might have happened at Banstock Manor in 1580, with the expert help of Felix Guichard, anthropologist and expert on sixteenth century sorcery. Back in 1580, the manor's steward juggles the needs of a sickly, pregnant mistress, whose previous babies have all died at birth, and the betrothal of the youngest daughter of Lord Banstock, Viola, to a man whose interests include sorcery. The embroideress who sews Viola's bride clothes grows pale, and secretive...My website is: http://www.rebecca-alexander.co.ukI blog about writing about Sage Westfield's adventures, along with those of Jackdaw and Felix at http://witchwayblogspotcom.blogspot.co.uk/ Contact me at reb@rebecca-alexander.co.uk.
