From the Devil to the Deep Blue Sea

Clare Allcard

Golden Duck

£13.99

This is an extraordinary book, writes Claudia Myatt.  I’ve never read a biography that reads so much like a thrilling novel. I couldn’t put it down. I expected an interesting but a difficult read; it’s a story of a young woman’s rape and trauma which, coupled with untreated chronic pain, led to suicide attempts and incarceration in various mental institutions. This was in the 1960s when ECT and deep narcosis treatments were normal, administered without consent.

Clare’s turning point was a chance sighting of a newspaper interview with circumnavigator Edward Allcard. She wrote to him; to her surprise he replied. They met, fell in love and sailed away together. A book brimming with honesty, hope and humour.