In 1965, Clare Thompson, a 19-year-old student nurse working in a psychiatric unit, was raped on Hampstead Heath. She told no-one and buried the memory so deeply that she concealed it even from herself. She made four attempts on her life and spent the next two years in mental hospitals. There she experienced a wide range of 1960s psychiatric treatments, including deep narcosis and repeated courses of ECT. All given without her consent.

This is not a misery memoir. On one level it’s a patient’s account of a complex, conflicted period within the mental health system; on another it’s a story of personal resilience and a love story. Clare subsequently sailed the oceans of the world with her husband, Edward Allcard. Now, as she approaches her 80th birthday, she would like this story of hope to be told.