my books

What is it like to be confined to a psychiatric ward against your will? love lay down beside me and we wept is a memoir of the part of my life when I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act. It is dark, sometimes funny, and lots of nice things have been said about it.

A classic in the making. Helen writes about her experience with such tender clarity and subtlety that the unbearable becomes somehow bearable. The result is not just helpful; it’s a radiant work of art.

John Mitchinson

To judge for yourself, read an excerpt here.


My debut novel The Backstreets of Purgatory was published by Unbound in 2018. Caravaggio pitches up in modern day Glasgow and all hell breaks loose.

Read what people are saying about it here

Unbound, 12 July 2018, ISBN 978-1-78352-555-3, Hardback.