"I was about a year into therapy when, in one session, just as she had done so many times before, my therapist uttered the words I so needed to hear – 'it’s not your fault'. Only, this time, like a cog clicking in to place, I not only heard but understood the significance of these words in my very core."

"It’s a grey spring day when the shovel sinks into the hard soil. Three red hens, oblivious to the solemnity of the moment, scratch for grubs in the recently turned dirt, a heavy boot nudging them away."