A frank, brave memoir of the overwhelming need to hurt herself. Apparently about one in every hundred people in the UK suffer from the illness. This is an important look at a very real problem, compellingly told.
A close relative of bulimia and anorexia; it is estimated that up to one per cent of the population has intentionally harmed itself – yet for the most part it is a behaviour that goes unspoken, dismissed as the attention-seeking actions of prison inmates or delinquent teenagers.
If you had run into Victoria on the street during her darkest days you would never have known the torment she endured. Confident, polite and articulate, she could have been your sister, your friend, your lover.
Yet from her late teens and throughout her twenties Victoria Leatham struggled with the overwhelming desire to hurt herself, a desire that was all consuming and shaped every aspect of her life. And while not everyone who feels stressed, insecure or depressed will physically turn upon themselves, anyone who has ever felt out of control will recognise the logic that drove her.
‘In the same way that Elizabeth Wurtzel lifted the lid on her struggle with depression in Prozac Nation in 1994 – Bloodletting is a frank, eloquent memoir about one of society’s last taboos. Leatham recounts her tale with a dark humour that makes you will her to overcome her demons. Truly compelling.’
Sunday Telegraph Magazine
‘Victoria Leatham has written an extremely lucid and fascinating account of her life as an unhappy young woman who instead of falling prey to sex, drugs or alcohol, chooses to cut herself as her addiction.’
New Woman
Author
About Victoria Leatham
Victoria Leatham is a pseudonym. She is now a full-time writer and lives in Australia.
