Paradise Lost

This book is set in the present day. It takes place in London and Southern France. There are two central characters, Judith and Annabel. Judith is a young artist who meets and falls in love with Claude, who is doing his doctorate on the painter Vincent van Gogh and the causes of his mental disintegration, which led eventually to his suicide. Judith's mother is an alcoholic. Annabel is a financial advisor to the NHS. Her job is deficit reduction within the hospital trusts. These two diverse characters are drawn into a complex relationship, which is not of their making, and for much of the story, they are unaware of the threads that bind them. These threads slowly tighten and strengthen until they are inexorably bound together. Dark, sensuous, original, here is an unflinching exploration of the devastating effects of neglect and addiction, but also of the the extreme pleasures of art. 'Extraordinary devestating, and haunting. This is about the journey to the end of night which is where the those who dwell in the world of addiction live'. Lyn