Five Lives

Five Lives shines a light on the true stories of five extraordinary women and their personal battles with drug and alcohol addiction, domestic violence, self-harming and homelessness. This collection of emotionally absorbing stories provides an insight into a world where life is a soulless quest to find solace in a bottle or needle, where every day is spent living under the control of an abuser, where self-harming seems the only way out and where you feel shunned and isolated from the rest of society. However, the authors also impart messages of hope, optimism and inspiration and share with the reader what has helped them. Five Lives epitomises the therapeutic benefits of writing. It invites the reader to learn through the lens of other people's true stories and encourages them to try out writing for themselves as a means to work through challenging times in life. The five authors have not only written all the stories, but they have been involved in the editing, marketing and design of this book. These 'five lives' have changed through the process of putting this publication together. We hope that it will leave a lasting impression on other lives too.