The Past is Calling: A Window Between is Finally Here!

What if a window to the past wasn’t a journey, but an escape? A brilliant, imaginative mind targeted by a system that couldn’t understand its depth?

For years, I’ve been immersed in historical research, driven by the desire to bring untold, powerful stories to life. Today, I am thrilled to announce the official launch of my new historical novel, A Window Between.

This is more than just a story; it’s a profound exploration of the mind’s fight for freedom against oppressive authority. A Window Between is inspired by the haunting, true-life tragedy of Opal Whiteley, contrasting the brutal reality of her final years with the vibrant, imaginative world she recorded as a child.

The Asylum and the Escape

The novel transports you to the final weeks of February, 1992, where Opal is an unwilling inhabitant of Napsbury mental hospital outside London. The already-over-taxed hospital staff was utterly frustrated by her behavior. Opal’s boundless imaginative powers and her insistence that she was the rightful direct descendant of the French Aristocracy led to a catastrophic misdiagnosis: they labeled her a schizophrenic who was “out of control.”

Their horrific rationale was to “flatten” her personality to make her more compliant. This led to her enduring shock treatments, repeated ice baths, and the trauma of a botched lobotomy. Tragically, the operation had the opposite effect. It is in this spiral of delusional crisis that Opal finds her ultimate escape, retreating fully into her memories of a single year in Walden, Oregon, circa 1905.

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The Child’s Sanctuary

At six years old, Opal’s childhood was a sanctuary recorded in her diaries—a world filled with imaginary fairies and profound friendships with animals, each given a grand name right out of ancient history. Yet, even this beautiful world was marred by the treatment she received from her alleged adoptive parents: “The Papa,” weak and ineffectual when it came to corralling the Irrational harshness of “The Mama.”

A post-mortem consideration of Opal’s symptoms strongly suggests she was likely on the high-functioning side of the Autism spectrum—a diagnosis that, had it been available, might have spared her much of the cruelty she later experienced at Napsbury. Compounding the mystery, there’s sketchy evidence that may lend some validity to her claims of French aristocratic ancestry. Unfortunately, with the passing of that generation, we may never be able to unravel the full truth of Opal’s real identity.

A Window Between delves into the sharp contrast between this boundless imagination and the clinical cruelty of the asylum, asking what happens when a mind breaks free by returning to its most essential self.

Thank you for being part of this incredible journey. Happy reading!