Other Side Of Snow

Cathy is a shy and exceedingly clever mixed-race teenager who contends with more than what most teens ever have to. She struggles with intrusive voices and visual hallucinations as she navigates the complexities of teen life, made more complicated by her family's move from a large, diverse town in Oxfordshire to a small village in South Wales.Everything Cathy knows changes. Torn from her long-time happy home and loving relatives living nearby, she must navigate her issues in a new country and school with new people and social cues. But that's not all that changes. She struggles to find her way in a city where kids aren't friendly. Her once lively mum, Elsie, is depressed and quiet. Her dad, Tacari, comes home after dark and always fights. Beverly, her half-sister, is making secret plans to leave. Cathy doesn't have friends and feels as isolated at home. As family problems spiral out of control, so does Cathy's mind. She struggles to distinguish between real and imaginary, with a head plagued by voices, isolates herself and creates a wall between her and her feuding parents.Tacari leaves the family home. Cathy is furious with him, and the tethers that hold her steady come undone. Elsie's depression is at its height, and she doesn't think Mum will make it on her own. Granddad dies, and Elsie leaves her long-term job to work in a pub. She meets Peter, and he soon becomes integral to their lives. Cathy is pleased with this until Elsie agrees for them to move in with him. Cathy, twelve, the first time Peter touches her. At first, she is happy to be cuddled and kissed, but when she says no the next time, Peter repeatedly rapes her. She keeps this a secret from Mum because Peter says their 'special' time together must stay secret - otherwise, Elsie would be jealous. Tacari returns home and asks Cathy and Elsie to move back. Cathy should be happy, but there is no peace at home. She starts secondary school and meets Jay, a bright, popular, handsome boy in her maths class. As their relationship turns deeper, Cathy thinks Jay deserves a normal girlfriend-one unafraid to be touched and not so screwed up. But Jay doesn't see a girl defined by mental health but one who is funny, intelligent, and brave. Cathy likes what she sees, but her secret drastically changes and shapes her life over the next four years.Cathy is fourteen when the story begins, waking up in a hospital's psychiatric ward after a failed suicide attempt. The story spans over five years and is told in the third person, but from Cathy's viewpoint.The following 28 chapters go backwards, detailing the events that led to her breakdown. The last 11 chapters go forward with Cathy as an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital, battling both the pain of her past and the isolation of her present. After three years, Cathy is released and considered fit to face the world outside. With a hopeful attitude towards the future, she reflects on why she ended up in a mental institution and sees a path ahead where she can make a life of her own.