The Existence of Amanda Blake ebook

It is 1957, and Amanda Blake is admitted, against her will, to Bristol Mental Hospital. Since her first breakdown, her parents have interpreted any step towards independence as proof of madness. They constantly invalidate, ignore, and gaslight her to the point where she can no longer distinguish her thoughts from theirs. She feels unheard and invisible, as though she does not exist. Although she hears the voice of her dead grandmother, a junior psychiatrist believes her distress is a reaction to her parents' oppression rather than a primary illness. The consultant in charge, however, aligns himself with her parents and escalates her treatment. When her only ally, a compassionate nurse, is dismissed from the ward, Amanda is left isolated and pressured towards irreversible surgery. Her whole existence is under threat.