Sandpaper for the Soul

Rain leads a quiet life where she laments the monotony of each day, but then overnight her world is turned upside down and she finds herself in a perilous situation with nobody to turn to for help. After floundering in despair and uncertainty, she decides to take matters into her own hands, but finds that in doing so, she has jumped from the frying pan into the fire.

Meanwhile, Nora is struggling to make sense of a stormy relationship and a sister besieged by illness. Her solace is her friend, Cassie, a young hedge-witch who helps Nora to see that everything happens for a reason, if only we ask the right questions. At work one morning, Nora finds a letter that speaks directly to her heart, and a friendship is born.

Nora and Rain become penpals and though they are separated by a vast ocean and very different cultures they lead uncannily parallel lives: both suffer the loss of loved ones, the brutality of patriarchy and extraordinary twists of fate beyond their control. Woven throughout their story are mysterious moments of synchronicity and foresight: recurring dreams, animal and spirit totems, and the realisation for both women that those who appear to be our foes are often our greatest teachers.

After fifteen years of exchanging letters, at long last an opportunity for the two women to meet arises - but just days before their longed-for meeting, Nora receives an unexpected email, and life takes one more tumultuous twist of destiny.

Hailed by readers as 'an exceptional novel with heart and purpose' and 'by far the best book I have read in many years', Sandpaper for the Soul will crack you open and set you down in another emotional landscape, allowing you to become truly alive to the magic and tragedy of life.