Purgatory follows a woman on the edge of sanity as she flees her past and finds herself trapped in a place where empathy is a curse, and redemption comes at the cost of self. What inspired you to frame Purgatory within the context of the UK’s Mental Health Act?

My own life inspired me to frame Purgatory within the context of the Mental Health Act. In 2017 I was sectioned and experienced what life was like in psychiatric hospitals first hand. When I got well I worked in mental health facilities for CAMHS patients aged between 12-17 it was important for me to work with this age group as I had my own struggles at this age and I wanted to be the person that I needed for the patients that I had the pleasure of supporting during their healing and rehabilitation. Two years ago I qualified as an intuitive life coach mainly focusing on helping people overcome trauma as a result of abuse, again something I knew too well, but I have always refused to let my pain from my past hold me back. Instead I chose to turn my pain into power and help as many people as I can.  Mental health has played a big part in not just my own life but the lives of my family as well. So I know how difficult it is to access the right care and I know what happens when you don’t receive the right care or worse no care at all. It was always important to me to write about something that I have a good understanding of but something that genuinely means something to me and so many other people. It is so important for people to resonate so they know they are not alone and that is why I didn’t glamorise any parts of mental health in Purgatory, the truth is mental health is painful, disturbing and uncomfortable but if we keep being honest it will become less uncomfortable eventually make it easier to recover from.

The world of Blackthorn Palace feels both real and dreamlike. How did you balance psychological realism with supernatural metaphor?​

Balancing psychological realism with supernatural metaphor was something that came easy to me. I have always had a love for magic, myth and supernatural. I would often remove myself from anything that was causing me pain and try and get lost in a good book or scary film to take my mind off what was going on in real life. I found comfort in other worlds that writers created and was fascinated about what a life after this one could be like. I felt alone throughout most of my life so when I discovered characters that had interest in things I liked or was able to learn more about the history associated with the supernatural it made me feel safe in a way that nothing else could. I was always going to combine my love and fascination with the human mind and spiritual world and hopefully one day Purgatory can be someones comfort.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

The themes that were most important for me to explore in my book were the abuse themes and the affect it has on not just the person who is trying to navigate life after being abused and living with the trauma of it, but the people in their lives that are affected by it also, abuse has ripple effect on so many peoples lives even strangers who hear about someone being abused are affected by it. It was important that I made sure the parts of Purgatory that discussed abuse was done with raw honesty and no shame attached, Purgatory is the story of Rose Blackthorn and her journey into Purgatory, but it is also my own story and the story of many others so it would be an injustice not to write about abuse with the truth that every person who has survived abuse or still going through it deserves. I want it to give people strength and courage to speak out or recognise that what they might believe is normal is not.

What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?

Purgatory-The Palace was the first book in the Purgatory Trilogy. The second book Purgatory-The Tasks and the third book Purgatory-The Final Battle are both available on Amazon. I would love to revisit all the characters I created in Purgatory again one day, but at the moment I have stepped away from fantasy worlds, I am currently working on a new bittersweet novel of a mother, a daughter, a widow, and a desperate sister.