Between the Shadow and the Soul

Marguerite Valentine began work as a member of a women's group which established one of the first Women's Refuges in the U.K. Following this she researched for a PhD at the University of Warwick, subsequently moving from there to Child Care in Social Services with a special interest in Child Protection. By then, she'd become increasingly fascinated by what makes people tick, hence her subsequent decision to train as a psychotherapist. She was often moved by the lives of those she has worked with and it is their experiences which now motivate her. The characters she writes of, though imagined, share a struggle to survive and to overcome what life throws at them. 'Between the Shadow and the Soul' is Marguerite's debut novel. She was interested in why a woman might steal a baby and created the character of Flori, whose traumatic childhood history drives her to steal a baby as an attempt to overcome her tragic past.